Tough visit for Wolves
GALA .............................. 34 STIRLING COUNTY WOLVES .... 7
After the disruption of the last 18 months it was a long-awaited return to the road for the Stirling County Wolves with a trip to Galashiels.
The Stirling County Wolves team play in the Tennent’s National League Division 1 and will come up against many of the bastions of traditional club rugby, such as Gala RFC and Kelso RFC together with taking on the respective club team from the Super6 league.
Stirling County Wolves were led out by their newly-appointed club captain Shaun McDonald. From the start it was clear that this was going to be a physical encounter for the young Stirling County team, many of which have just recently stepped up into senior rugby with Gala notching up two quick tries.
Stirling County kept pursuing and closed out the half 15-0 down to Gala. The score could have been more but for the tenacity of the defence and in particular the moment when Bryce Robertson managed to hold the ball up to prevent the Gala no 6 from scoring a third try.
The Wolves coach,
Craig Deacons, clearly read the riot act to his side at the break as they came out blazing in the second half and were camped out on the Gala try line for a large spell.
Despite some valiant efforts they couldn’t secure that try. The game moved back to the centre of the pitch and Josh King again won a penalty for his efforts at the breakdown.
Rather than kick for touch the quick-thinking full back Callum Beckett took a quick tap penalty and with a couple of passes released the centre Iain Kay to score under the posts.
However, Gala were quickly back in the game and asserting their dominance in the last twenty minutes to score four tries to win the game 34-7.
Club president, John Gibson, said:“Gala was always a tough place to secure a victory in our day, but we could always take them when they returned to Bridgehaugh.’’
The League continues this Saturday with a game at Bridgehaugh, kick off at 3pm, against Biggar RFC who were unlucky not to be promoted last season into the Premiership after a halt was put to the season before all the games could be concluded.