FOSROC SUPER6: ROUND 9
Heriot’s No.10 Bruce Houston kicked off the game, and the first points came just over the five-minute mark. The Heriot’s driving maul got moving and Captain Iain WIlson peeled round the blindside of the maul and got the ball over the away side. [5-0]
The 17th minute saw Stirling’s first try, as Max Williamson crashed over the home side from short-range. Stand-off Euan Cunningham added the conversion points. [5-7]
Shortly after there was another try for the homeside, once again by Captain Iain Wilson, stretching his arm out to score. [10-7]
With just five minutes to go until half-time, there was a disallowed try from Stirling due to a forward pass. However, they made up for it on the stroke of half-time as Grant Hughes worked the ball wide to Tom Roche and he dove over the homesides try line. [10-12]
HALF-TIME: Heriot’s Rugby 10-12 Stirling County
With Goldenacre starting to get wet and windy, it took the guys a bit to get the second half going.
Stirling made some switches, taking No.1 Adam Wood off the pitch and replacing with No.18 George Breese. No.23 Marcus Holden also made his first appearance since round 1, replacing No.15 Craig Robertson.
The first points came twenty minutes in, and it was the hosts who put the points on the board. Heriot’s Bruce Houston put the hosts in front with a penalty kick at goal and then further extended their lead with a long-range kick. [16-12]
Minutes after No.22 Landon Hayes stepped on the pitch to replace No.9 Caleb Korteweg, and with ten minutes to go County brought on No.21 Andrew Goudie and No.16 Angus Fraser. With just five minutes left, Josh van Vuuren went on to replace George Arnott.
In the last few minutes of the game, Stirling kicked the ball up field and went in for a last attack. The play moved tensely left to right as they couldn’t find a way through, until Centre, Grant Hughes, recycled the ball and got it down at the side of the breakdown, giving County their third win in a row. [16-17]
FULL-TIME: Heriot’s Rugby 16-17 Stirling County
Head Coach
Ben Cairns commented on the teams performance and thoughts on the final:
“We don’t like making things easy for ourselves, do we? When we had the wind in the first half we probaby needed to turn around a little further ahead. When we kept hold of the ball we pretty much scored points and that was the chat at half-time- just keep hold of the ball and build pressure, which we didn’t really manage in the second half.”
“But this is finals footy and we are keen to finish as well as we can with our eyes on a home game for the third/fourth place playoff. That’s the goal.”
Match report by Eve Allison
SCORERS
Heriot’s Rugby: TRY Iain Wilson (2) PEN Bruce Houston (2)
Stirling County: TRY Max Williamson, Tom Roche, Grant Hughes CON Euan Cunningham
Match Officials
Ref: Graeme Ormiston
AR1: Jonny Perriam
AR2: Bob Nevins
No4: Brian McGuff
Time: Dr Rebecca Wheater
FOSROC Player Of The Match:
Bruce Houston (Heriot’s Rugby)
Cards
NA
Heriot’s Rugby: 15. Robbie Chalmers, 14. Ben Evans, 13. Rory McMichael, 12. Robert Kay, 11. Callum Young, 10. Bruce Houston, 9. Alex Ball; 1. Chris Keen, 2. Michael Liness, 3. Dan Gamble, 4. Ronan Seydak, 5. Fraser Hastie, 6. Ruairidh Leishman, 7. Iain Wilson CAPTAIN, 8. Callum Marshall.
Replacements: 16. Cameron Fenton, 17. Andrew Nimmo, 18. Josh Scott, 19. Jason Hill, 20. Lewis Govenlock, 21. Jed Gelderbloom, 22. Matt Russell, 23. James Couper
Stirling County: 15. Craig Robertson, 14. Steven Hamilton, 13. Archie Russell, 12. Grant Hughes, 11. Tom Roche, 10. Euan Cunningham, 9. Caleb Korteweg; 1. Adam Wood, 2. Reyner Kennedy CAPTAIN, 3. Lewis Skinner, 4. James Pow, 5. Max Williamson, 6. George Arnott, 7. Connor Gordon, 8. Dean Taylor-Menzies
Replacements: 16. Angus Fraser, 17. Kevin Crainey, 18. George Breese, 19. Josh King 20. Josh Van Vuuren, 21. Andrew Goudie, 22. Landon Hayes, 23. Marcus Holden
