Second half workrate is key to County win v Bulls
STIRLING COUNTY ................................ 33 AYRSHIRE BULLS ................................... 24
Clinical finishing and heroic defence during the first 25 minutes of the second half laid the groundwork for this welldeserved home win achieved by County over last year’s Super6 champions in front of an enthusiastic Bridgehaugh crowd.
Head coach Ben Cairns has spoken previously about his frustration at his team’s habit of falling on the wrong side of the scoreline in tight games but they demonstrated real steel here to knock over the tournament favourites.
“I thought we worked really hard for each other, never gave up, and that was the difference,” he said. “When you keep going to those places like we did again last week at Watsonians, of being close but not quite getting there, eventually you do build up that resolve and you start figuring out how to do it. We’re starting to turn that corner, hopefully.
“The Bulls will obviously be very disappointed with the number of errors they made, but a lot of that was down to how hard we made it for them – they had to go that extra phase or make that extra pass, and I’m delighted we got our reward for that.
“Next up is Southern Knights away on Friday night,” he added. “That’s a big one. Can we go away from home and do what we did here? It’s fine talking about feeding on the emotion of a big home crowd like we had today, but it’s harder when you go away from home, so that will be a big challenge for us.”
The first County try was the story of two turnovers with Bulls initially capitalising on a County mishandle through Jordan Lenac and Lewis Mcnamara, but the visitors then lost control of the ball 10 yards from their opponents’ line and Marcus Holden hacked ahead twice during a footrace which ended with Ross
Mcknight outstripping Elias Cavan to touch down. Holden added the extras.
Bulls then lost outside-centre Andy Stirratt and winger Cavan (temporarily) to injury inside the space of three minutes, but responded positively to bring it back to a two-point game when Lewis Mcnamara got the downward pressure at the back of a line-out maul.
There was a flurry of tries before halftime, which was ignited by several phases of County pressure culminating in Connor Gordon sending George Arnott under the posts with Bulls responding in quick order through Glasgow Warriors hooker Grant Stewart, before the hosts struck strike again when Ben Salmon jinked through midfield and sent Logan Trotter galloping home.
Bulls dominated the third quarter and had their chances to score but really struggled deliver a decisive blow. Christian Townsend was held up over the line, Cam Jones lost control of the ball as he dived for the score, and a Lewis Mcnamara touch-down was called back for a forward pass, before the visitors finally found their way through County’s heroic defence on 66 minutes. The try was scored by replacement scrum-half Jones off a fine pop-pass from the deck by skipper Blair Macpherson.
Townsend’s conversion made it a twopoint game but gave County their first opportunity to get out their own half in over 25 minutes, and they took full advantage, surging towards the Bulls’ line with a series of pick-and-drives before Macpherson was penalised and yellowcarded for coming in from an offside position. The hosts opted for a scrum in front of the posts and got their reward a few phases later when John Mckenna powered over.
Glasgow Warriors winger Walter Fifita put the gloss on the home win when he came in field to collect a short ball and blasted through some upright tackling on his way to the line.
Bulls managed to pick up a four-try bonus-point when Joe Knight touched down at the back of a line-out drive in injury time and they could also have claimed a losing bonus point, but Matt Minogue couldn’t manage the touchline conversion meaning the deficit remained frustratingly beyond nine points for the visitors.
Stirling County: Trotter; Mcknight (Cunningham 55), Salmon, Jardine (Innes 40), Fifita; Holden, Burgess (Russell 71); Macmillan (Mckenna 60), Fraser (Hiddleston 51), Breese (Ramsay 64), Pow (Mcleod 51, Arnott 62), Sinclair, Ferguson, Gordon, Cruikshank (Arnott 17). www.theoffsideline.com