Semi-final warm-up ends in County defeat
Stirling side fail to make an impact against hungry Marr
Marr ......................... 27 Stirling County ........... 17
Matt Vallance County finally finished their BT Premiership season with a defeat at Marr - a warm-up for their cup semi-final at home to Hawick on March 31.
Marr had to land a bonus-point win and hope that a weakened Melrose side could beat Hawick but they couldn’t pull off Mission Impossible and prolong their stay in the top flight.
They did what they had to do, running in four tries but with the under-strength Melrose side failing to halt the Green Machine at Hawick, it was all in vain.
It was a come-from-behind win after Jonny Hope had kicked the simplest of penalties to open the scoring for County in five minutes.
It took Marr 17 minutes to subdue the youthful exuberance of the visitors, but in 22 minutes off a five-metre lineout, the home pack mauled their way over, with Miller getting the touch-down.
Ten minutes later, Marr stretched their advantage, a great spell of continuity rugby ending with Greg Peterson sending Greg Jackson in for a try, brilliantly converted from wide out by Rory McGee.
However, right on the interval, County made it a two-point game when solid work from their pack was finished off by Hamilton Burr, with Hope converting with the final kick of the half.
Marr quickly cancelled this out from the restart, a tapped penalty initiating a flowing move, finished off by Conor Bickerstaff.
County came back quickly, and as the Marr defence parted, Craig Robertson was left with the easiest of run-ins from Hope’s popped pass.
The County captain converted and it was all-square.
Thereafter, however, the Marr pack took control.
A penalty try, after they had thrice splintered the County scrum, restored Marr’s lead and sealed the bonus point, before, in the final two minutes, McGee added a penalty to complete the victory.
“Their set-piece was the difference,” said County coach Graham Young. “Greg Peterson was dominant, they kept us pegged back, but, we did a lot of things right both in defence and attack and it was another good learning experience for your younger players.
“Our focus now is on the cup semi-final in two weeks’ time, but in spite of the result we have a lot to be happy about today.” Marr: Buchanan; Masaga, Dalgleish, C Bickerstaff, S Bickerstaff; McGee, Baird; Jackson, Rossi, Watt, Peterson, Miller, Vunisa, B Johnston, A Johnston. Substitutes: Fidinde, Nisbet, Pearce, Steven. Stirling County: Robertson; McLean, McGarvie, Bonar, Gossman; Hope, Swan; Wood, Kennedy, Nicol, Beech, Yarrow, Burr, Wynne, Macdonald. Substitutes: Emmison, Dineen, Pow, Bundy, Gililand.
●County’s final home match of the season is on Saturday, March 31 when Hawick are the visitors for the BT Cup semi-final, kick-off 3pm. The other semifinal is between Watsonians and Melrose at Myreside.
There are some places available at the pre-match lunch - any takers should contact Alasdair Cunningham at alandishbel2@btinternet.com.
●On Sunday, Stirling County’s Under 18 side meet Ayr in the National Youth League Cup final at BT Murrayfield. The match was postponed due to the weather on March 4.