‘Too many errors’ costs County game
WATSONIANS ...................... 34 STIRLING COUNTY ............... 22
Stirling County threw away a 17 point lead as they slumped to defeat against Watsonians in the Super 6.
County’s pro contingent were heavily involved as they got off to a bright start. Adam Nicol’s powerful break established good field position and earned a penalty, Thomson sent it to the corner and Adam Ashe got the ball down after a powerful line-out drive. The visitors doubled their lead five minutes later when Thomson broke from midfield and Landon Hayes acted as link man to send Robbie Kent home.
Watsonians worked hard to get back into the game and had a 15-minute spell camped on the County line, which eventually paid off when – with visiting secondrow James Pow in the sin-bin for collapsing a maul – Davies got the first of his three tries off the back of a driven lineout.
Watsonians lost full-back Jamie Forbes to a yellow card for blocking Logan Trotter as the County winger chased his own kick, then just before the break Thomson slotted a penalty after the Watsonians front row stood up under serious pressure at a scrum in front of the posts.
Forbes had scarcely returned to the fray when
Watsonians lost another player to the sin-bin after 15 minutes of the second half, with replacement flanker Michael Badenhorst being punished when referee Ruairidh Campbell lost patience with defenders continually failing to get behind the back foot of the ruck. Stirling went for the scrum and their domination in that area paid off with Ashe simply having to pick up from the base and flop over the line.
Then came the Watsonians revival, initiated when Angus
Guthrie hit an excellent line with pace and power to score, and Millar added the extras.
Stirling then conceded a penalty near their own line. That was kicked to the corner and Davies was once again the man to get the ball down.
Lee Millar missed the conversion, but Watsonians surged right back up field from the restart, with Joe Reynolds wreaking havoc with an elusive run, before Kody McGovern stepped inside Trotter to score under the posts.
Millar nailed the conversion this time.
To add to their woes, Stirling centre Landon Hayes was carded for a high tackle in the build-up.
Millar then added a penalty after Ollie Bartlett was called for a high tackle, and the hosts finished with a flourish when hapless County twice fumbled the ball in midfield and Davies took advantage to claim his hat-trick. Millar’s conversion was the last act of the match.
Stirling County head coach Ben Cairns said: “We made too many errors and discipline cost us a bit.
“I don’t think it is one thing, it probably stems from our intensity dropping a little bit and us reverting into protection mode from attack mode, then it snowballs from there.
“We’ll look at some of the decisions we made in that final period, some of the soft defence and some of the soft penalties, and it will probably be a combination of all of that.”