Chieftains show County who is boss
SloppyStirlingpaythepriceforpoorfirsthalfshow
Currie Chieftains..47 Stirling County ..... 17 Playing at Malleny Park on a blustery winter afternoon is a tough assignment for any Tennent’s Premiership side, but Stirling County will leave disappointed after Currie Chieftains put in a dominant and classy performance.
County leaked a try in the first couple of minutes and Currie went for four more before the break to secure the bonus point.
Stirling had a better second half, scoring three tries, but there was no way back from 33-0 at the interval.
Bright sunshine bathed Malleny Park before kick-off and the Chieftains’ scrum looked in fine form early on and had soon established a commanding position over the County pack.
That dominance helped to set up a break by Robbie Nelson and the captain put No 6 Mike Vernel into space to get the opening score with just a couple of minutes played.
With no desire to slow the tempo, Chieftains made the most of Stirling’s sloppy workrate at the breakdown to make a darting break along the wing.
Joe Reynolds got the ball out to Ben Robbins, who showed a blistering turn of pace on the way to scoring his team’s second try.
Nelson, who had been on target with the first conversion, missed his second attempt as the horrid winter rain began to fall.
County almost scored when they were held up on the Currie line after Andrew Goudie had kicked a penalty for the corner.
But a third try was scored with a thumping drive from the pack setting up a pass from Gregor Hunter to allow Reynolds to dart through and eventually pop the ball up to put full-back Jamie Forbes on to the scoring sheet with a wonderful team try.
The tough conditions were proving tricky for virtually everyone, but Reynolds made easy work of things, linking up well with Glasgow Warriors lock Kiran McDonald for a one-two pass back to gain his first score of the match.
The centre then managed to grab another score just on the 40-minute mark, with an open passage of play ending in him making a cheeky cut inside to go over.
With the game and the bonus point in the bag for Currie, the second half lost the fluid nature of the first as the visitors looked to claw themselves on to the scoreboard.
It was the home team who got the first score after the restart, though, with a kick to touch allowing a strong drive over the line with MacDonald finishing things off.
County bounced back immediately, mauling themselves into a good position on the try line, and eventually referee Mike Adamson awarded the penalty try after the defence had collapsed the maul on the line.
Reynolds then completed his hat-trick with another piercing run through from the 10-metre line before scores from Ewan MacGarvie and Ali Mackie briefly raised County’s hopes of at least going home with a try bonus.
The vital fourth touchdown did not come, however, as the Chieftains’ defence stood firm during a frantic final two minutes.
County coach Peter Jericevich, although pleased to see his side show resilience in the closing spell, was disappointed with their efforts in the first half.
“The first half defined the game,” he said. “You can’t go into the half 33-0 down and then start playing from then. Something we’ve been doing well all season is start well, so that’s very disappointing from Pictures: Bryan Robertson