Home Win for Stags

Bottom of the table Kinross were the visitors to Glensburgh last Saturday for week 7 of the league campaign. The Stags made several changes with Stirling, Jack and Curran returning to the pack and Jaworek and Howe lining up in the backs. Grangemouth were quickly on the attack and Curran had a 30 metre run to take play into the visitors 22. After a period of pressure the opening try came from the power of the forwards. The pack drove a scrum 15 metres over the line with Neill collecting the touchdown. McInally was unsuccessful with the kick. From the kick off Neill broke upfield and Innes kicked into the corner. The Grangemouth forwards won the ball and simple hands along the back line created space for Howe to round his man and score in the corner. Again the kick was missed. Try number 3 followed on 15 minutes. The Stags ran a tap penalty deep inside their half. The ball was moved on to Innes and the young centre beat his man and outpaced the cover to score from 35 metres. The conversion was missed. Grangemouth then looked to secure the bonus point in the first quarter and again laid siege to the Kinross line. However a floated pass in the backs was intercepted and the Kinross player ran 90 metres for an unconverted score. As the game entered the second quarter Parsons was forced from the game with a thumb injury and then on 25 minutes the home side did secure the bonus point. The forwards again disrupted a Kinross scrum and the visitors scrambled a clearance kick upfield. The Stags backs ran the ball back and Innes found himself on the end of the line to score in the corner. Again there was no joy with the kick. The one way traffic continued with try number 5 on the half hour mark. Innes had the initial run to the forwards took over with a series of drives close to the line to suck in the defence. When the ball was moved wide Skipper gave a pop pass for Denny to slice through the cover for another unconverted score. From the kick off McInally had a run and Innes was bundled in to touch near the corner. The Stags won the lineout and Skipper prodded a kick through and followed up to dive over near the posts. To ironic cheers from the crowd Innes landed the conversion. Just on half time Kinross had some possession in the home half. However the defence was solid and the ball was turned over. Innes was off again and his inside pass found Denny who beat the cover to run in from 40 metres. Innes kicked the conversion. HT Stags 39 Kinross 5

The second half started with Grangemouth back on the attack and they quickly increased their lead. The backs worked a move inside the Kinross 22 and Skipper looped round to score in the corner. The Stags made a number of changes as they turned to their bench and Weir and McInally found themselves in unusual positions in the back row. Rutherford and Jardine were also slotted in on the wings. Grangemouth continued to dominate but a combination of poor options and stubborn defence prevented any further scores for 20 minutes. Finally with 12 minutes left the home side did increase their lead. Jardine and Stirling had both been stopped just short of the line and after a series of scrums close to the line simple hands saw Innes stroll in at the corner to complete his hat trick. The kick off failed to go the 10 metres and from the scrum on half way McNiff fed Jaworek who ran 30 metres before passing to Skipper to run round under the posts for his third try. Innes added the extra 2 points. With 5 minutes to go Jardine and Innes combined up the left wing to make 50 metres and when the latter was tackled just short of the line his pop pass found Skipper on hand to score under the posts. Innes completed the scoring with the conversion.
FT Stags 63 Kinross 5

This was a very comfortable win for the Stags against a Kinross side who although outplayed fought hard throughout. This week the Stags face a very difficult match as they make the short trip across the Clacks Bridge to take on unbeaten league leaders Hillfoots. KO is 3pm