County let lead slip once again
STIRLING COUNTY ................................ 15 HERIOT’S ................................................. 16 were first out the blocks, recovering the kick-off ball which they held onto until gifted a simple penalty in front of the posts which they took.
County woke up and enjoyed the better of the first 40 minutes. Landon Hayes made good yards at inside centre, the front row seemed to shade the set scrums and Bruce Sorbie posed a threat from the back when the full-back entered the line.
They were eventually rewarded when chip and chases by the twin half-backs, Sean Kennedy and Josh Henderson, resulted in an attacking lineout. From there County attacked and after a few phases a long pass from Hayes found Ewan MacGarvie on the right flank and the winger stepped inside the cover defence to grab Stirling’s only score of the half.
They deserved better because Stirling spent much of the final 10 minutes pounding away at the Heriot’s line only to be thwarted by the opposition or their own stupidity. One maul was held up, they won that scrum penalty which they tapped and ran, while another kickable penalty was sent into the corner for an attacking lineout. When Heriot’s came off the field trailing by 3-5 it must have felt like a win.
The visitors dominated the second half and took an early lead when Ross kicked a second simple penalty after more illdiscipline in the home ranks. It wasn’t long before Heriot’s were on the attack again: a teasing kick into the corner, a good kick-chase harried and hurried the defence into touch, and then a few plays later it was centre Cameron Hutchinson who barrelled over from close range. Jones added the extras and the visitors were sitting pretty at 13-5, which is when County’s Oliver Bartlett had his say.
The big lock charged down a Heriot’s clearance kick and won the race to the ball which was over the try line. Henderson added the conversion to make it a onepoint game before adding that penalty 10 minutes from time to give County a two-point lead.
They held onto it until three minutes from time, when Jones kicked his third penalty and kicked County in the teeth