County back with a bang
Storming second-half show sinks Heriot’s
Heriot’s ............ 25 Stirling County 28
Stuart Bathgate Stirling County came from being behind at half-time to grab a merited victory – and get their BT Premiership campaign off to a flyer at Heriot’s on Saturday.
Although their vital scores only came in the final quarter after Heriot’s stand-off Stuart Edwards was yellow-carded for a no-arms tackle, it would be unfair to give too much of the credit for their victory to that one decision.
Instead, the outcome was largely due to the patience and persistence in attack which eventually produced their fourth try, and to a defence which tightened up considerably in the second half in which Heriot’s were restricted to just three points.
“We knew it was going to be a tough challenge,” said player-coach Peter Jericevich. “We were disappointed with the tries we gave away in the first half.
“I thought they were quite soft so at halftime we talked about keeping our shape in defence, keeping our line, and hopefully they wouldn’t get through.”
Although they had been forced into a late reshuffle of their pack when lock Hamilton Burr was called up to be Glasgow Warriors’ 24th man in Connacht, County settled into their stride quickly and drew first blood in the second minute of a see-saw first half, with Craig Pringle charging down a clearance and putting Bruce Sorbie in on the left for an unconverted try.
But Heriot’s were not long in getting back on terms when winger Charlie Simpson went over with Ross Jones adding the extras.
That pattern continued when Kerr Grossman restored Stirling’s lead, converted by Jonny Hope then Craig Robertson replying for Heriot’s second try thanks to a bulleted pass from Steele.
That made it 12-12 and there was time for Jones and Hope to exchange penalties before the last score of the half saw Tom Wilson pick off a loose pass to run in unopposed for a try which Jones converted. That put Heriot’s seven points to the good.
In the second period, the energy levels ebbed for a time. Hope narrowed his team’s deficit with his second penalty before Ruaridh Leishman won the race to the line after Sorbie had kicked ahead. The score was unconverted, which allowed Jones to put Heriot’s back in front with his own second penalty, but that would be the last time the home team bothered the scoreboard.
When Ross Curle went down under Edwards’s tackle, referee David Sutherland
was in no doubt that a sin-binning was the correct sanction. That was with 62 minutes on the clock and four minutes later County’s bonus point was secured when they made use of the extra man to stretch the Heriot’s defence and substitute Andrew Grant-Suttie, was the extra man in the right-hand corner.
Hope’s failure to convert added to Stirling’s anxiety in the closing stages of the game but the try proved just enough to keep them in front.
HERIOT’S: R Jones; C Simpson, L Steele, R Carmichael, C Robertson; S Edwards, T Wilson; M Bouab, M Liness, S Cessford, C Smith, A Sinclair, M Maltman, N Henderson, J McLean. Subs used: H Fraser, R Kay, L Sinclair.
STIRLING COUNTY: J Hope; B Sorbie, C Pringle, R Curle, K Grossman; L Bonar, P Jericevich; M Macdonald, R Kennedy, G Holborn, C Hunter-Hill, J Pow, L Wynne, C Fusaro, R Leishman. Subs used: G Gilliland, M Emmison, A Grant-Suttie, C Clark.
Referee: D Sutherland.