Topsy-turvy encounter goes way of the Bears
STIRLING COUNTY .............................................. 25 BOROUGHMUIR BEARS ..................................... 26
A decent crowd, great conditions for running rugby and two sides that were determined to showcase their skills for all they were worth.
There was plenty for the neutrals to like about this FOSROC Super6 Sprint series encounter – and even more if you were one of the few Boroughmuir supporters to make the trip to Stirling as a difficult season was somewhat redeemed with this slenderest of victories on the road that the Bears’ coach Graham Shiel was gracious enough to concede could have gone either way.
Indeed it could. The lead changed hands a whopping eight times throughout this dingdong battle with neither side able to establish a commanding lead, although County had a golden chance to do exactly that late in the game.
Marcus Holden managed just one conversion of four tries (plus a penalty) and while several attempts were from the touchline, the last try from Benedict Grant was perhaps halfway between the posts and the sidelines and Holden will wish he had made a better fist of it as his attempt never came close. In contrast, Adam Scott managed three from four for the visitors.
But Holden will know that the rest of his side were complicit in their own downfall. It was impossible to count all the handling errors County made simply because you’d run out of fingers and toes, and many of them came from an excess of ambition. Stirling were the better of the two teams in the tight exchanges but never did cut their cloth accordingly and instead insisted on throwing the ball about willy-nilly with the inevitable knockons. The Bears licked their lips and their tenacity at the breakdown heaped added pressure on the home team.
“Yeah, it’s definitely a balance,” said County coach Ben Cairns about how his side played this game. “We talked all last week about execution and building pressure, that was how we would win this match, and we did neither tonight.
“We don’t want to go scrum-maul, scrum-maul, kick and not play any rugby: the players want to express themselves and play, but at times we tried to play too much. We needed to batten down the hatches, re gather ourselves and we didn’t do that very well.”
The Bears were gutsy throughout and tackled themselves to a standstill, but they still relied on two maul tries from hooker Corey Tait to help them win this match.
County kicked off and bossed the opening exchanges, going aheads from a Holden penalty but the visitors had the temerity to take the lead with the first try of the match just inside the 20-minute mark when Mcginley went over.
The Bears did exactly the same a little later another penalty, another driven maul, only this time Tait was last man up.
Happily for the home crowd, County had grabbed their first try in between Muir’s twin touchdowns, a scorching solo score from fullback Logan Trotter.
All the scoring left the Bears leading by 12-8 going into the final minutes of the first 40, but County were far from finished and Ross Mcknight delivered the final score of the first half.
County took a narrow 13-12 lead into the halftime break but didn’t have long to enjoy it when hostilities resumed. Their indiscipline gave the Bears an attacking line-out and Tait stayed calm and, more importantly, stayed in the middle of the maelstrom of a maul to score his second and Boroughmuir’s third.
County were bossing possession and territory in the third quarter and lock James Pow scored under the posts, gifting Holden his first conversion of the game at the third time of asking.
County No 8 Grant scored his team’s fourth try of the evening to eke out a six-point advantage which would have been an unassailable eight if Holden had packed his kicking boots.
While they have struggled for results in recent weeks no one has questioned the Bears’ spirit or belief, both of which seem in rude good health. Trailing by six, the visitors went ahead again with a fortuitous try.
Bears’ winger Glen Faulds chipped ahead, more in hope than expectation, the ball was well covered by fly-half Euan Cunningham but the bounce of the ball beat him hands down, and instead fell straight into Tom Brown’s grateful arms for the one-time Scotland cap to score a crucial poacher’s try.
Scott’s conversion gave the visitors a one-point lead and despite last-ditch efforts from County, Boroughmuir held on to win.