Stags Get Home Victory

The Stags were at home on Saturday with Carnoustie making the trip south to Glensburgh. The Angus side had finished runners up in their league last season and a tough afternoon was expected. Grangemouth made 4 changes from the previous week with Luke Quinn in the pack and Dylan Stewart, Ross Ferguson and Richie Balfour starting in the backs. On a very warm afternoon it was the home side who started strongly. Ferguson had an early run up the touchline and when the ball was recycled the visiting backs were caught offside. Wieczorek slotted the simple penalty. Grangemouth were well on top in the scrums and on 10 minutes a scrum penalty allowed the Stags to kick into the 22. The pack worked a move round the front of the lineout and Watson powered over to score in the corner. The conversion was off target. The Stags should have kicked on from this bright start. However they reverted to traditional failings of trying to play to much rugby in their own half coupled with numerous handling errors and penalties. This allowed the visitors to settle into the game and they were rewarded with a simple penalty to reduce the deficit. They almost added to their score a couple of minutes later but were denied when the final pass was ruled forward. Carnoustie were then reduced to 14 with a team yellow for frequent penalties. Despite their numerical advantage the Stags failed to score and with the last play of the half it was the visitors who took the lead with a try from their own half. They won a lineout on their 10 metre line and a break in the centre allowed the stand off to collect the return pass and outpace the defence to score under the posts. The conversion was successful. HT Stags 8 Carnoustie 10.

The Stags made changes at the break but it was Carnoustie who were first on the scoreboard in the second period. Grangemouth conceded a sequence of penalties and McNiff was given the team yellow card with the visitors kicking the easy penalty. The Stags hit back and another scrum penalty allowed Wieczorek to reduce the deficit. Having reduced the lead to just 2 points the Stags then made a catalogue of errors to give away a further 10 points and lose another player to the bin. Firstly McNab was given a yellow card for further breakdown offences with Carnoustie kicking the resultant penalty. Then from the kick off a loose clearing kick was missed by the home defence on halfway. The ball was hacked through and the Grangemouth cover failed to deal with the loose ball to leave the grateful Carnoustie winger the simplest of tasks to pick up and dive over for a converted score under the posts. The final quarter saw the Stags back to their full complement while the visitors had another player sent to the bin. Grangemouth however continued to make too many handling errors and it looked like they were not going to get back into the game. However with 7 minutes to play the visitors were penalised at a scrum close to their line with the referee awarding a penalty try. In a dramatic finish Carnoustie had a scrum on halfway. Once again their pack were in retreat and the ball popped out the side. McNab was first to react and the ball was moved to Skelton who kicked deep into the visitors 22. Birthday boy Chris McGregor chased down the kick to pick up and score in the corner to tie the game. Skelton stepped up to nail the very difficult conversion from the far right touchline. There was still time for the Stags to survive some last minute scares before the ball was cleared to touch and the welcome sound of the final whistle. FT Stags 25 Carnoustie 23.

This was a game the Stags should have dominated from the start and not need a late miracle conversion to secure the points. The scrum was totally on top with the front row of Bell, Watson and Clark giving the opposition front row a torrid afternoon. However the game was littered with errors as the home side seemed to ignore the game plan and try to play an expansive game without doing the basics first. The side know they were lucky to record the win and the coaches and players realise there is still plenty to do at training in the next few weeks. Skelton was man of the match for his match winning conversion. This week the 1sts travel to Cupar to take on Howe of Fife while the 2nds start their league campaign on the road against Perthshire . Both games kick off at 3pm.