GHA RFC MATCH 144: STIRLING COUNTY RFC 6 – 0 GHA RFC
2007/2008: Scottish Premiership One
STIRLING COUNTY RFC |
|
GHA RFC| D. Adamson | 15 | J. Wright |
| G. Lyndsay | 14 | R. Watson |
| M. Tuhakaraina | 13 | N. Cassie |
| B. Archibald | 12 | A. Bulloch |
| R. Aitken | 11 | R. McClymont |
| A. Robertson | 10 | J. Noonan |
| G. Calder | 9 | P. Jericevich |
| R. Logan | 1 | J. Welsh |
| A. Moffat | 2 | D. Sutherland |
| M. Hunter | 3 | A. Kelly |
| B. McFarlane | 4 | A. Williamson |
| P. Wilson | 5 | J. Paine |
| C. Deacons | 6 | G. Harkness |
| T. Clarke | 7 | A. Boag |
| J. Mathieson | 8 | C. Forrester |
| G. Mountford | 16 | D. Ziolo |
| R. Gray | 17 | J. Coffey |
| C. Eadie | 18 | D. Chaney |
| A. Simpson | 19 | R. Jericevich |
| S. Parlane | 20 | A. Rushforth |
| Try | ||
| Con | ||
| Archibald | Pen | |
| Archibald | DG | |
| Referee | ||
| Mr A. MacPherson (SRU) | ||
Turgid does not come close to accurately summing up Saturday’s Bridgehaugh basement battle. County did just enough to confirm their top-flight survival, while GHA – thanks to Edinburgh Accies’ triumph at Goldenacre – took the plunge.
Stirling coach Ian Jardine said: “Obviously we’re happy with the result because it keeps us in the highest division. We made hard work of it, but our defence and discipline were excellent. “However, we could have cleared our lines better at times and some of the kicking was poor.”
GHA coach Roddy Moir lamented: “I’m totally gutted, though I realise that you don’t get relegated for just one game, but over a whole season. “However, in the end we’ve gone down for the sake of just one score. “I can’t fault the guys for effort – that was terrific. We could have done with a wee bit more composure near the line but the boys were under a lot of pressure.”
The County points came from the boot of Brian Archibald, an early drop goal followed by a penalty. Stirling were on top during the early sparring session, but for all their effort they could muster only six points in the jittery opening quarter. They turned out to be the only scores. They edged in front after just two minutes when Archibald clipped over an opportunist drop-goal. The playmaker was on target again on the quarter-of-an-hour mark as he collected a penalty. GHA were struggling in the set-piece and many of their initial problems stemmed from losing a string of their own line-outs. They stuck to their task, however, and enjoyed a spell of pressure – but could not make the crucial breakthrough. Their cause was not helped when Jim Noonan sent a simple penalty wide, while the County fans were frustrated as they watched their team waste two try opportunities in the build up to the interval.
The exchanges continued to be scrappy and disjointed after the restart, with most of the action being confined to the expanse between the 22-metre zones. David Adamson squandered a further penalty chance as the teams completed one of the dullest and most tedious matches most of the fans could remember.
Source: The Scotsman, Sunday 30th March 2008
