County's forward momentum

County forwards in rolling or driving their mauls proved the most

influential factor in a full hearted contest, brilliantly refereed by

Jim Fleming, and in which the swamped conditions at Inverleith mitigated

against the open style that is the Stewart's-Melville FP hallmark.

Stirling are indeed fortunate that they can afford to leave on the

bench a loose forward of the high quality of Gordon Mackay, but even he

must have felt some frustration at the sight of Gareth Flockhart giving

an outstanding performance, whether going forward or on retreat, capped

by the clinching try.

The College scrummage held its own, Ben Gordon did especially well at

the shorter line-out throws and Willie Faulds of the big leap had a rare

duel with Malcolm Norval.

Finlay Calder still has classy little touches in his locker and Alan

Kittle made several rollicking sorties, but the College pack seldom

matched their rivals in the close quarter exchanges where Kevin McKenzie

so often was the reactivator, Stewart Hamilton, streetwise and crafty,

Jim Brough excelling in scrummage ball control and Brian Ireland

providing yet another example of his total commitment to unglamorous

chores.

Mark McKenzie's assessment of what was on and what wasn't proved

fairly accurate and, despite the atrocious underfoot conditions, he gave

an admirable display of goal kicking with five penalty goals which took

Stirling to 15-6 after 51 minutes, then the conversion of the opening

try by Colin McRobert.

It was symptomatic of the difficulties the College backs experienced

in moving by hand a ball eventually like an orange pip that a breakdown

at Danny Bull enabled Mark McKenzie to hack the loose ball and McRobert

to do the same and then use his electrifying pace to stay ahead of the

pursuit for the try.

The tidy skills of Matt McGrandles complemented the power work of Ian

Jardine, Ken Harper mixed his game cleverly and Angus Turner is an

accomplished wing.

The Colleges backs might have prospered more had their forward

colleagues excelled in ball retention instead of occasionally having

ball stolen by worldly wise opponents of impressive upper body strength.

Mark McKenzie's conversion of McRobert's try gave Stirling a virtually

unassailable 22-6 margin and they closed the door with a crashover

scored by Gareth Flockhart, twisting and turning past three tackles

after standing off yet another ruck in a spell of Stirling siege in

which Kevin McKenzie had taken a lead role.

It spoke volumes for College tenacity and resilience, however, and

hinted at what might have been in more favourable conditions that they

signed off with a magnificent bout of handling launched by mazy breakout

from Nick Penny, linkage by Gordon, Ross McNulty and Kittle and swift

exploitation of a tap offside penalty by Niall Gallagher for a closing

try by Graeme Burns and a conversion by Murray Thomson. Teams:

Stewart's-Melville FP -- M M Thomson; N J Penny, P N Gallagher, P W B

Flockhart, D J Bull; F I Pollock, G G Burns; R B McNulty, A J Cadzow, A

J Kittle, B Gordon, W T Faulds, M T Paton, F Calder, D Caughey.

Stirling County -- C M Sangster; A S M Turner, M McGrandles, I C

Jardine, C McRobert; M McKenzie, K G M Harper; J T Gibson, K D McKenzie,

G B Robertson, J S Hamilton, M Norval, G N Flockhart, J Brough, B

Ireland.

Referee -- J M Fleming (Boroughmuir).