Third time lucky

The Stags were at back at home last Saturday with Panmure the visitors to Glensburgh. This game had already been postponed twice after Panmure had struggled to field a team and was in danger of being cancelled again after the overnight frost. However the pitch had thawed out in time for kick off. Grangemouth made a couple of changes in the forwards with Christie starting at prop and Cunningham packing down in the second row. On a good day for rugby it was the visitors who made the much better start and they took the lead after just 3 minutes with a simple penalty after the home side were caught offside. The Stags were struggling to get into the game at this stage as they continued to make mistakes to allow Panmure to dominate the territory. The visitors had the chance to increase their lead on 11 minutes but the penalty from 35 metres was wide. Gradually Grangemouth began to gain more possession and finally on 20 minutes got their act together to open their account. From a scrum on their own 10 metre line good handling in the backs saw Parsons come into the line. The veteran fullback then dummied his opposite number and ran in from 40 metres to score under the posts. Innes slotted the conversion. A couple of minutes later the Stags added their second try. A flat pass from Innes saw Herron burst inside his man before rounding the cover to score near the posts. Innes duly collected the extra 2 points. It was Innes who set up the third try on 26 minutes. The centre made the initial break before kicking ahead to force the visitors to concede a 5 metre lineout. For once the lineout worked well and the forwards drove over the line with Aspinall in control at the back of the maul to score the touchdown. Innes added the conversion from a difficult angle. Grangemouth continued to press and the bonus point score came on the half hour mark. A kick ahead saw Pedyo chase hard to collect the bouncing ball before outpacing the cover and run round under the posts. Innes made it 4 from 4 with the conversion. Just before half time McPherson and Aspinall combined to take play into the visitors half and when the ball was moved wide Innes burst through the defence to score. Once again he added the conversion. HT Stags 35 Panmure 3

Grngemouth made a strong start to the second half. On 42 minutes an attempted clearance kick was charged down by McNiff and the flanker followed up to collect the ball and score under the posts. Innes again kicked the extras. Try number 7 was scored by Herron. Panmure were turned over on their 22 and the ball was moved down the blindside where the winger had just enough space to beat his man before running round under the posts. Innes duly maintained his 100% record with the kick. Once again the home side seemed to ease off and allow Panmure into the game with some poor handling, wrong options and silly mistakes. However the visitors were unable to take advantage of the possession and it was the Stags who finished the game with 3 further scores. Firstly some good linking between forwards and backs saw the ball moved wide where Parsons angled his run to wrong foot the defence and score under the posts. Innes was again successful with the kick. Then the full back turned provider as he collected a loose clearance kick and raced to the 22 before turning the ball inside for substitute Allan to run in unopposed under the sticks. Innes again was on target. Finally in the closing minutes a burst from Binnie was carried on by Innes and it was Aspinall who followed up to run in from 25 metres. Innes made it 10 from 10 with the kick. FT Stags 70 Panmure 3

This was a very easy win for the Stags but the coaches will be concerned by the performance in the opening 20 minutes and the loss of intensity in the second period which will surely be punished by better sides. There will also have to look at the lineout which struggled at times. Next Saturday the Stags have a break from league rugby as they welcome their old rivals Llandybie for the annual match. This is the 58th year of the fixture making it the longest running fixture between Scottish and Welsh sides. With the international being on Sunday the game will be played on Saturday with a 12 noon KO.