Stirling County U18s rugby players in top form against Dumfries

Nov 11 2009 by Jean Pedder, Stirling Observer Wednesday

DUMFRIES RFC Under 18’s were the visitors to Bridgehaugh last Saturday for a friendly with Stirling County as both clubs were given byes to the second round of the National Youth Cup with the first round matches scheduled last weekend.

This match was seen as a good test for both sides with the west side currently leading the league and with an undefeated record to maintain. County also saw this as an opportunity to “blood” some players.

Within the first ten minutes the County backs showed slick handling with stand-off Finn Russell making the break in midfield and releasing centre Robbie Hogg to outpace the cover defence to score. Almost immediately a careless penalty for off-side allowed the visitors to register with a penalty.

After some good County pressure, a quick ball was fed out to lock forward Adam Sinclair who showed a good turn of pace to score on the left. This was quickly followed by quick hands finding Robertson arriving at pace to score under the posts. Robertson converted taking the score to 17-3 within twenty minutes.

It was County that struck again with Robertson completing his brace with good support to break on the left to score. As the break approached Ruaridh Leishman picked up a loose ball on the run after good defensive pressure had forced the Dumfries error, and made the line just as the defence arrived. Hogg slotted the conversion and County went in at the break 29-3 up.

County were aiming to start the second period with the same intensity, but it was Dumfries who showed why they are leading in the west league with some gritty resolve forcing themselves back into contention with a forwards try within the first 10 minutes after the break.

A rare County forward drive saw County relieve the pressure with Hogg scoring after some quick thrusts on the left released the backs to create width and score. The score was now 34-8 in County’s favour.

The Dumfries forwards obviously wanted to finish on a high and a strong drive at the County line was again rewarded with a try taking the score to 34-18. With minutes remaining it was the County backs that once again showed just how dangerous they can be with a handling phase allowing replacement wing Jamie Anderson to outpace the Dumfries rearguard to complete the scoring at 39-18.

This was a good workout for County with some squad players staking claims for the starting fifteen in coming matches.

Next weekend sees County travel to Aberdeen to meet Robert Gordons College in a friendly fixture. This match will once again be a useful pointer in the progress of the young County squad.