County deliver superior finish
Stirling County .... 38 Edinburgh Accies .. 24
Lewis Stuart Stirling County wrapped up the bonus-point win in this Tennent’s Premiership match long before the end but they were made to work hard for their win by promoted Edinburgh Accies and it was their superior finishing that made the real difference.
The Bridgehaugh outfit were completely dominant up front for long periods of the game and it was no surprise that by the time they started emptying the bench in the final minutes, they were already assured of victory with only the margin still to be decided.
For all that, head coach Eddie Pollock reckoned they had played at least as well, if not better, in defeat to Watsonians the previous week, saying this time, the big difference had been the accuracy of their finishing.
“We were just more clinical this week than last week,” he said. “Last time, we just did not take them but today every time we got down into their 22, we came away with points. That was the important thing, coming away with something.
“The pressure we build up meant that we felt a bit more confident. We had two or three line breaks in the first half and the difference was that last week we were throwing a bit of a loose pass but this week we played another phase or another few phases and got the score.”
They got there despite conceding the first score of the game in a scrappy opening quarter, Richard Mill, the Accies’ fly half, slotting a penalty. The reply was almost instant with Stirling breaking up the field to set up camp on the opposition line.
They had already been held up once before they got a scrum rumbling forward for No 8 Hamilton Burr to pick up and feed the backs with fly-half Andrew Goudie finishing off.
That was soon followed by a break out from their own half through debutant lock Cameron Henderson. He could not get there himself but full-back Craig Robertson did.
It was even more adventurous as they claimed their third try. Centre Grant Hughes found the space to run from his own 22 and then the support came piling in behind him. By the time the ball got to the rest of the backs they had a massive overlap with winger Ewan McGarvie the one to go over.
Goudie converted all three and added a later penalty to send his side into the dressing room with a 21-point advantage and the game all but won.
Accies came out fighting to open the second-half scoring through wing Cammy Gray, converted by Mill, but that only seemed to irritate Stirling, Pictures: Bryan Robertson who tightened their grip on the game even further with the forwards claiming a penalty try when a scrum that was heading for the line was taken down.
That was the bonus point and the fifth try from Henderson from a maul looked like merely a bit of icing on the cake until the home side started to bring on their bench players and suddenly any sense of a pattern to the game disappeared again.
It helped Accies, who claimed two late tries through centre Neil Armstrong and a second for Gray. Briefly, they threatened that they might claim both a scoring a bonus and a losing bonus point but they didn’t have enough time to actually get there. Stirling County: Robertson; McGarvie, Thompson, Hughes, Tagive; Goudie, Jericevich; Chies, Kennedy, Nicol, Pow, Henderson, Arnold, MacDonald, Burr. Subs: Gilchrist, Walker, Bundy, Keys, Hope. ●On Saturday, County travel to Millbrae to meet Ayr.