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Watsonians 29 Stirling County 24
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Watsonians just hung on to defeat Stirling County on Saturday at Myreside and move into second place in the table behind Boroughmuir who have now been crowned champions.
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The final score was 29-24 to the home team, but having led 29-3 at the break they should have perhaps closed this one out earlier, although that would be to negate the superb performance put on in the second half by the visitors.
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Watsonians’ coach Cammy Mather made just two changes to the side that defeated Glasgow Hawks on the same ground two weeks previously. Centre Mala Mialo replaced Jamie Wood and hooker Gregor Wood came in for Steve Lawrie who was on Edinburgh duty in Toulouse.
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Early on, both sides swapped penalties, stand-off Andrew Skeen on target for the home side and centre Brian Archibald for Stirling.
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A great score in the 12th minute opened Watsonians try account for the day. A move involving both forwards and backs and some neat handling skills eventually saw centre Doug Brown go over with Skeen converting.
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Another superb try came 11 minutes later, this time full-back Scott Kennedy’s scything run set up Skeen who dotted down under the posts and converted.
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Stirling simply had no answer to the home side at this point and Watsonians keep pressing their line. The next try, number three for the day, came just after he half hour mark when than man Brown again proved his worth with a great line break to set up in-form No.8 Bernie Hennessey over for the try, again Skeen adding the extras.
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Watsonians’ players were all queuing up to score the bonus point try, but it came from an unlikely source. Hooker Wood was the player to come up with the ball after a good forwards drive. With that man Skeen converting once more it was 29-3 at half time and Watsonians looked on easy street.
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Half time - Watsonians 29 Stirling County 3
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It was not an easy street at all in the second half, in fact it was a very bumpy one…
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Three tries came for the visitors in the opening 19 minutes of the half, the third from former Watsonians back-row Colin Eadie whose time at the club a few years back was blighted by injury.
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The score was suddenly 29-26 and ‘Sonians seemingly had no answers to the rejuvenated County who had pitched up after the break.
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Indeed, it was all hands to the pump just to hold on to the victory with the relegation threatened Bridgehaugh men pounding the home line for much of the last quarter.
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They had their chances, but couldn’t take them as Watsonians, with flanker Josh Abraham in the sin bin, held on during an agonising last five minutes.
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Full time - Watsonians 29 Stirling County 24
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A real game of two halves then, but a good win in the end to go second. This Saturday ‘Sonians travel to Raeburn Place looking to complete a double over Edinburgh Accies who will be buoyed by their win over Currie on Saturday.
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Man of the Match - In the first half stand-off Andrew Skeen was at the heart of everything Watsonians did, probing at the Stirling defence and causing them all sorts of bother.
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Scorers: Watsonians: Tries: Brown, Skeen, Hennessey, Wood. Cons: Skeen 3. Pen: Skeen.
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Watsonians: S Kennedy; A Rowe, D Brown, M Mialo, C McWilliam; A Skeen, E Howe; K Traynor, G Wood, K Coertze, T Callander, W Lipp, J Abraham, B Hennessey, G Hills. Subs used: C Sorbie, J Rennie. Subs unused: s Paulo, I Condell, N Hart.
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GH
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watsoniansrugby.com
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Published: 21/1/08
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