County edge it but Shiel happy
STIRLING COUNTY 27 BOROUGHMUIR 23
Stirling County edged a tense and entertaining clash at Bridgehaugh, and rather peculiarly it was the losing head coach who seemed to be more satisfied with what he had witnessed.
Graham Shiel was encouraged by how his team fought back from 10 points down early in the second half to take a three-point lead with six minutes left on the clock thanks to a Tom Pittman penalty, and not even the lastminute try from replacement hooker Angus Fraser, which sealed the home win, could dampen his spirits.
“It’s not over till the fat lady sings,” shrugged Shiel. “Even late in the day there is time for a good side to come back at you and that is what happened today.”
Opposite number Ben Cairns was slightly less philosophical about the failings he identified in his team’s performance. “We are happy with the result, but we cannot be happy with the performance,” he said. “I have just given the guys a bollocking. We didn’t build any pressure and we wouldn’t have won it without that maul dominance.”
County’s three scores before Fraser’s dramatic late intervention came from skipper Reyner Kennedy, Tom Roche and Stevie Hamilton, with Craig Robertson contributing a conversion and a penalty, while Grant Hughes kicked a conversion as well.
Jordan Edmunds scored both of Bears’ tries, while Pittman kicked the conversions and three penalties.
Meanwhile, Southern Knights stretched their lead at the top of the Super6 table with a 25-8 win over Watsonians on Friday night, and Ayrshire Bulls will look to take their recent impressive home form on the road when they visit Goldenacre to take on Heriot’s this afternoon.
In the Premiership, Currie Chieftains underlined their title credentials with an emphatic 45-0 home win over GHA, with Gregor Scougall, Ryan Southern, DJ Innes, Rhys Davies, Wallace Nelson, Cammy Gray and Matt Bradshaw all dotting down for the Malleny Park men.
“We want to chuck the ball about and I felt that sometime we didn’t get the balance there, and forced a few things when we could have stuck to a bit of structure, but overall I was really pleased,” said victorious head coach Mark Cairns.
Hawick triumphed 23-22 in a typically tense Border derby against Selkirk, Marr hammered Aberdeen Grammar 48-12, Glasgow Hawks edged it 18-21 on the road to Jed, and Musselburgh beat Edinburgh Accies 31-28.