Frustration for County after thrilling draw
● Stirling squander big half-time lead as Knights put them to sword in second 40
Is the glass half full or half empty? Both coaches were asking themselves that question at the final whistle, although it was probably County’s Ben Cairns who was the more disgruntled of the two having seen his side squander what looked like an unassailable 19-3 lead at half-time.
Stirling scored four tries to the Knights’ three but the visitors claimed one additional penalty and three conversions to County’s two, which ensured that this match ended in a draw, the visitors’ fullback Ciaran Whyte converting Patrick Anderson’s late score to bring the curtain down.
In a semi-professional Super6, it was still the full-time pros who stood out from the crowd, especially the Warriors pair of Andrew Davidson and Matt Smith playing for the home side, even if the latter ended up watching the final seven minutes from the sidelines after earning a yellow card for illegally disrupting a Knights’ maul.
County racked up three first-half tries, courtesy of Dean Taylor-menzies, Reyner Kennedy and Davidson and added a fourth and that allimportant bonus point in the second half when their Kiwi scrum-half Caleb Korteweg was first to a bouncing ball. Neither side’s defence resembled the Iron Curtain but the Knights were especially porous in that first 40, so was coach Rob Chrystie, pictured left, worried?
“Yes,” came the blunt response. “If you are leaking as many points as that and as many line-breaks, absolutely. It is something we will have to look at, the urgency to get back into the line and people sliding off a player like [County stand-off ] Josh Henderson, who is a very good rugby player, a naturally gifted rugby player, a runner.
“If you give him the opportunity he will either run through a gap himself or put someone else through it, so fair play to him in the first half.”
County have produced one outstanding stand-off in recent years and Henderson may just be the next one off the Bridgehaugh production line. He ran the show for 40 minutes and might have managed it for the full 80 had his forwards not downed tools at half time.
The No 10 has the right amount of swagger about him. Henderson posed a constant threat ball in hand and he made County’s first try with an outside break that has become something of a collector’s item in the modern era.
“The first half was everything that Stirling County are about, playing at pace and accurate,” said the youngster when he had caught his breath.
“The one thing we said going into the second half was, ‘it’s 0-0’ because we know how good the Southern Knights are.
“I think we were a little bit complacent in that second half and it could have been better.”
It could hardly have been any worse, although, in fairness, Chrys tie had some stern words for his underperforming players at half-time and his team responded in the best possible manner with three tries, two of them appearing in the third quarter, from lock Ruaridh Knott and Michael Mvelasejulyan, before Anderson and Whyte provided the finishing touches to an improbable comeback.