Spoils shared as Knights snatch last-minute draw
CoachChrisispleased withvictoryoverCartha
STIRLING COUNTY .......................... 24 SOUTHERN KNIGHTS ..................... 24
The quality may have been a little variable, but if it was excitement you were after, then Bridgehaugh was the place to be on Saturday as the Southern Knights jumped off the canvas to claim an unlikely draw with the very last act of the match.
Full-back Ciaran Whyte was the match-saver, showing nerves of steel to convert Patrick Anderson’s late, late try well after the hooter, around the 82-minute mark.
There were long odds against a draw at half-time when County led by 19-3, three tries to none, after a half when they scarcely put a foot wrong. After the break the home team hardly put a foot right and Ben Cairns is learning to live with the rollercoaster emotions that come with coaching.
“Our mentality coming into the second half . . . we were all just sitting back and waiting for it to happen rather than going for it like we had in the first half,” a shellshocked Stirling coach said after the game.
“Our performance in the first half was very good and we could have had a couple more tries when we got five out, but came away with nothing. I was really disappointed by the 20 minutes after half-time which put us under pressure, and a couple of decisions in the last 20, when we were under that pressure, were not good enough.”
The 1300-strong Bridgehaugh crowd didn’t have long to wait for the opening score. Knights fly-half Thomas Galbraith missed touch with a penalty clearance and his opposite number Josh Henderson made him pay a high price for the error. He made a sublime break deep inside the Knights’ half of the field and an equally outrageous dummy saw him get to within 10 metres of the try line. The ball was spun wide where the attack was stopped in the corner but only briefly as No 8 Dean Taylor-Menzies crashed over.
Henderson failed to add the extras and the Knights got off the mark when Whyte kicked a penalty not long after. Knights enjoyed some territorial dominance but were unable to convert and County made them pay with another try - the second in two games for skipper Reyner Kennedy who rumbled over after a five-metre lineout.
Henderson added a touchline conversion to give the home side a handy 12-3 lead and they still weren’t finished. There was time for another County attack, which continued despite the half-time hooter tempting a shot to nothing. Instead County slowed things down and displayed impeccable patience for Glasgow lock Andrew Davidson to bully his way over the visitors’ line to rub salt in the Knights’ wounds.
If County thought the job was done with a 19-3 lead at the break they were soon put right, as the Knights started the second 40 with a bang and two converted tries to make it a two-point game through lock Ruaridh Knott and winger Michael Mvelase-Julyan, both converted by Whyte.
As the match moved into the final quarter. County scored their fourth try directly from a visitors’ line-out deep inside their own 22. The ball was not secured, County hacked ahead and scrum-half Caleb Korteweg was the first to react.
Henderson was unable to convert from the far-side touchline and it was to prove a costly error as the Knights went in search of an equaliser.
County and Glasgow Warriors flanker Matt Smith was carded for lifting a leg in the Knights rolling maul and a seven-man pack failed to add an extra body at a crucial scrum. The Knights won a penalty, kicked to the corner and, with County on their knees, there was an inevitability about Anderson’s late try and Whyte’s even later conversion that divided the spoils right down the middle.
Stirling County:Thomson; MacGarvie, Kent, Hughes, Trotter; Henderson (Goudie 76), Korteweg; Dineen (Wood 44), Kennedy, Walker, Bartlett, Davidson, Arnott, Smith, Taylor-Menzies.
STIRLING WOLVES .................................. 31 CARTHA QUEENS PARK ........................ 28
After two losses on the spin, Stirling Wolves recorded their first victory of November at home to Cartha Queens Park on Saturday, claiming a bonus point in the process.
The win lifted Wolves above Cartha in Tennent’s National League Division 1 into sixth place in the table/
“We are very pleased with this win, especially as we had to make a late change in the backline as Adam Shaw, our scrumhalf and a consistent performer, wasn’t fit, but the boys adapted well,” said head coach Chris Faill afterwards.
“The game was always tight and you could see the confidence Cartha had gained from some recent positive results.
“We managed to contain them though including some excellent defence in the last five minutes. James Gibson carried well and Andy Orr led from the front.”
Gibson, Nik Binning, Craig Robertson and Orr were the try scorers for Wolves with skipper Jonny Hope kicking 11 points. Cartha picked up a losing bonus point and scored tries through Graham Williamson, Thibault Pin, Sam Harrison while Wayne Burrows kicked the rest of the points.
On Saturday, Stirling welcome Highland to Bridgehaugh to end the first half of the league season. It will be a chacne for revenge for Wolves who lost 38-18 to the Inverness side in the Scottish Cup last month.
In West Reserve League Division 1, Stirling Accies picked up a losing bonus point in their 27-20 defeat at home to Hillhead/Jordanhill. This weekend they are at home to league leaders GHA.