County go close but miss out on final
Historic cup run comes to an end in the Borders
Melrose .......... 48 Stirling ............ 18
Stirling County missed out at the semi-final stage against a strong Melrose side.
County were appearing in their first BT Cup semi-final, however it is the Borderers who will go on to face Ayr at Murrayfield.
In glorious spring sunshine at the Greenyards, it was County who started the match at pace, and the visitors went ahead inside two minutes when Logan Trotter gathered a perfectly weighted chip-ahead by Alex Black and the winger touched down for an unconverted try in the left corner.
Five minutes later, stand-off Ross Jones increased County’s lead to eight when he kicked a 45-metre penalty after Melrose were penalised for not releasing the ball on the ground.
County’s Jonny Hope retired injured, with Logan Bonnar taking over at full-back. Jason Baggott missed a penalty for Melrose, before County’s aggressive play was further rewarded when Jones was on target with another long-range penalty after the home-side were caught offside in midfield, to extend County’s lead to 0-11 after 19 minutes.
Melrose began to find their rhythm and from a scrum just inside their own half, the ball was moved to full-back Fraser Thomson who broke down the right-flank before offloading to the supporting Grant Runciman who drew the County defence before passing to Sam Pecqueur who raced under the posts for a try converted by Baggott to reduce the leeway to 7-11 with 24 minutes played.
Melrose went ahead on 33 minutes when they took a quick line-out on half-way and swiftly moved the ball through the hands, with right-winger Austin Lockington making yards, before offloading to Runciman who set up Thomson to score an unconverted try in the right corner.
Just before half-time Melrose secured line-out possession five-metres from the County try-line and the home pack rumbled over for hooker Russell Anderson to touch-down to the left of the uprights, with Baggott adding the conversion.
From the re-start County attacked and Trotter exploited a gap, sprinting into the homeside’s 22, but his offload couldn’t find a team-mate’s hand. Melrose re-gained possession and immediately turned defence into attack, keeping County pinned back deep in their own half. Following a number of forward drives, the pressure on the visitor’s defence eventually told, and Nick Beavon dived over for a try to the right of the posts, converted by Baggott.
The visitors responded positively, and on 58 minutes, following controlled play by the County forwards exerting pressure on the Melrose line, Adam Sinclair found a gap to barge over for a try from close range, converted by Jones.
With twelve minutes remaining, Melrose secured victory when Beavon found a gap in the hard-worked County defence, to score his second try, with Baggott adding the conversion to take the score to 36-18.
In the closing stages, County’s Turnbull and GrantSuttie returned to the action in place of Black and Alex Taylor respectively, but it was Melrose who finished strongly, with centre Nyal Godsmark and No.8 Ruaridh Knott scoring tries in the final five minutes, with Baggott converting Godsmark’s effort, to round-off his side’s thoroughly deserved victory.
County’s season ultimately ended in disappointment, but the team can be proud of their historic cup run and will hope to show the same battling qualities next term.