Stirling County 27 Lasswade 34

Lasswade won the home leg of this pairing comfortably back in October and their current fourth place is the lowest they have been since.

With just 4 wins from their thirteen to date Stirling have hovered around the bottom three and are still not safe from relegation.

Apart from a bracing air temperature, conditions were otherwise near perfect as Lasswade kicked off.

Knowing the odds were against them Stirling used the first kickable penalty to open the scoring.

Lasswade, by contrast spurned feasible three points in favour of kicks to the corner and their trade mark catch and drive. After ten minutes and on the third attempt, the ploy paid off as Hunter claimed the touch down.

By now it was already apparent that the visitors were dominant up front in the loose play and the set scrums but the line-outs were a bit shaky. With the half hour past, two more short range penalty lineouts and rolling mauls stretched the Lasswade lead with touch downs by Cook and Elliot and a conversion by Smith.

From the restart and still in his 22 Smith spotted space on the right wing and Lamont gathered a well placed punt to race down the line but was unable to round the last defender. Gladstone was in close support to take the off load and canter to the posts for a certain 7-pointer and the try bonus point.

Stirling burst from the blocks in the second half and from a lineout on th home 22 moved the ball swiftly out wide where things were more evenly matched and were rewarded when their full back dotted down in the corner after just two minutes,

Lasswade steadied over the next ten minutes and some extended possession led to Gladstone’s second try converted by Smith.

Lasswade began to lose some shape in the final quarter and deep in their own 22 opted to pass the ball round rather than clear immediately only for it to be dropped, pounced on and touched down under their posts, bringing the score to 15-31.

Realising the game wasn’t over Lasswade added a penalty to their tally at the start of the last 10 minutes. Stirling responded with another try and in the dying minutes deservedly earned the try bonus and the close loser’s bonus with another converted try. There was not enough time to salvage a draw.

This bonus point win keeps Lasswade in fourth place with third placed Newton Stewart just 3 points ahead with only one game to play to Lasswade’s four. To catch the two leaders, though, they’ll need maximum points from those four games and for Peebles to drop four points in their 3 remaining games.