U18s see off Fifers

Mar 18 2009 by Jean Pedder, Stirling Observer Wednesday

STIRLING County Under 18’s made their way to Fife last Saturday for an early kick-off against Dunfermline in a Caledonia league fixture.

The County squad were minus five first team players – for the best of reasons. Congratulations to scrum-half Sean Kennedy, stand-off Stuart Edwards, centre Danny Gilmour, full-back Glenn Bryce and wing forward Robbie Boswell, who are all included in the Scotland Under 18 squad for the Six Nations Tournament in April. This is a fantastic achievement for the boys themselves and unprecedented in terms of numbers representing the club at this level. The squad wish them success in the coming weeks.

The County Under 18’s however, were bolstered with the return of Billy McCulloch and Graeme Simpson from Caledonia representative duties.

As with all matches against Dunfermline, there would be a robust edge and so it transpired. The opening period saw some combatative exchanges at the breakdown with County attempting to play a dynamic game in the windy conditions. Good off-loading and support play saw County create panic in the home defence in more than one occasion however it took until the tenth minute before flanker Andy Ritchie crossed the whitewash to score. The strong wind hampered the attempted conversion by Craig Robertson and the score remained 5-0. County were dominant in open play handling and had good opportunities on both wings to score however, either imprecise passing or failure to straighten the line left the winger with limited space and they were bundled into touch.

County were made to pay the penalty on seventeen minutes when a strike from the Dunfermline full-back was met by poor tackling and he scored under the posts. The conversion putting the home side ahead 7-5.It took until five minutes from the break for County to respond with another flowing move which this time resulted in winger Chris Cheung touching down for his first competitive score in County colours. The break was reached with County ahead 10-7.

Seven minutes into the second period saw Billy McCulloch extend the lead with a characteristic charge near the line. Robertson converted to take County to a 17-7 lead. With the Dunfermline defence under pressure their discipline was tested and a series of penalties and warnings ensued. Ironically it was Billy McCulloch who was yellow-carded on sixteen minutes when a warning for infringing at the ruck was ignored. County remained composed in defence however, and still managed to produce threatening attacks when they ran the ball.

With ten minutes left McCulloch’s return injected some drive to the attack with Andy Ritchie securing his brace and completing a fine performance overall to secure the win and the bonus point.

County are still on course for the league title with three matches remaining against Gordonstoun and Glenrothes at home and Ellon away. Next week sees the long journey to Ellon where another win would set things up nicely for the run-in.