Currie 27- Stirling County 24

Kevin Robertson reports from Malleny Park

Stirling County lost their third successive league match, as the Bridgehaugh team surrendered a well-earned 16-point lead by conceding three tries to Currie in the final ten minutes of an enthralling BT Premiership encounter in Edinburgh.

County welcomed Glasgow Warriors’ Fijian scrum-half Nemia Kenatale on his first appearance for the club, with inside-centre Fraser Lyle also released by the Scotstoun side. Bruce Sorbie returned to the left-wing. In the forwards, Hamilton Burr came in for the injured Callum Hunter-Hill in the second row, while Colin Hutton made his first start of the season at loose-head prop in place of the unavailable Mike MacDonald. Jonny Hope took over the captaincy at full-back.

Currie, who had lost their first three league matches, were bolstered by the inclusion of Glasgow Warriors’ inside-centre Richie Vernon and prop Jarrod Firth.

County took the initiative from kick-off and had the bulk of the early pressure pinning Currie back in their own 22 for long spells, but a lack of discipline by the visitors, who conceded a string of penalties, allowed the home side to repeatedly clear their lines.

On 19 minutes the powerful County pack ran several pick-and-goes into the Currie 22 before recycling to stand-off Ross Jones who threw an audacious dummy before darting through a tight gap in the home defence to score the opening try against the right-hand upright, converted by Hope, giving County a deserved seven-point lead.

County then gave away another penalty straight from the re-start, which Currie’s stand-off Jamie Forbes successfully goaled to reduce the leeway to 3 – 7.

In a strange passage of play, Currie managed to lose both of their starting props, with Firth and AP McWilliam going off due to injury. However, this did not seem to deter home-side, and they took the lead after 33 minutes following a rolling maul from the back of a lineout, replacement prop Graeme Carson barged through County’s rearguard from a metre out to score an unconverted try in the left corner, leaving the match balanced at 8-7 in the Malleny sides’ favour.

Currie’s joy was short-lived, and three minutes later they found themselves behind once again after a costly error from their stand-off Forbes, who after receiving the ball on halfway threw a miss-one pass only to have it intercepted by County’s Alex Taylor. The strong-running number eight did well to hold off several tackles before popping the ball to supporting inside-centre Fraser Lyle inside Currie’s 22, who ran under the posts to score a try. Hope converted to put County back in front at 8 - 14.

On the stroke of half-time the visitors extended their lead. After collecting an errant clearance in his own half, County full-back Hope attempted to chip the ball into space but was illegally blocked by Currie’s Vernon, who was very fortunate not to be sent to the bin. The flattened Hope went off for treatment, and the home side were made to pay as stand-off Ross Jones hit the long-range penalty from 55 metres to increase County’s lead with the last kick of the half.

Half-time: Currie 8 - Stirling County 17.

County’s Struan Robertson replaced Shaun McDonald at the break.

Currie re-started with much more purpose and the home-side had the majority of the possession and territory in the early stages of the second half. Currie’s Forbes almost got his team straight back into the contest when he took a quick tap penalty, catching the County defence napping, before diving over in the right-corner, but fortunately for the visitors the stand-off was adjudged to have put a foot in touch.

County’s Mark Hunter and Matt Emisson replaced Colin Hutton and Reyner Kennedy respectively in the front row, but County couldn’t retain any possession, allowing Currie to launch a series of attacks, which kept the visitors on the back foot.

Currie’s Dan Marek, who replaced the injured Vernon at outside-centre was sent to the bin for cheaply pulling back County’s Kenatale, after the scrum-half had attempted to take a quick tap penalty within his own 22. This seemed to give County a boost, and with the numerical advantage the visitors extended their lead following an excellent break from deep in their own half, started by Hope, with a combination of backs and forwards running the ball the length of the field, before Robertson and Jake Cresswell set up former Scotland Under-20 prop Adam Nicol to dive over for a try. Hope converted to extend the visitors’ lead to what appeared an unassailable 16-point margin at 8-24, with 17 minutes of the match remaining.

Nicol was then unlucky not to add to County’s tally when he put a foot in touch on the right-side as he broke clear within the Currie 22, with an unguarded try-line beckoning. Ryan Elliston replaced Bruce Sorbie on County’s right-wing, before Sorbie returned to replace Hope.

Currie refused to give up and they got themselves back into the match on 70 minutes, when the ball was fed out wide to hooker Fergus Scott on the right wing, who put in a chip, and as the ball sat up in goal it looked as though County’s Ruaridh Leishman had safely touched down, but Currie’s back row Thomas Gordon followed through to dive on the ball and the referee awarded the try, which was unconverted, taking the score to 13 – 24.

This gave a resurgent Currie team belief, and three minutes later they worked their way back into the County 22. After a succession of short offloads the ball was fed back to Forbes, who threw a defence-splitting inside pass to winger Cameron Gray who crashed over for a try, converted by Forbes, to put the home-side within touching distance at 20 - 24.

Finally, and after seven minutes of added time, it looked as though County were going to hold out for a narrow victory after surviving a barrage of attacks from the home side, aided by a last-gasp try-saving tackle by Craig Pringle in the left corner. But from the resultant five-metre line-out, a miss-judged throw in by the visitors, presented the ball to Currie and after several phases it was slung out wide for scrum-half Charlie Shiel to sprint over the line and score his side’s fourth and winning bonus-point try, converted by Forbes with the final play of the match, allowing Currie to celebrate an unlikely first win of the season.

A disappointed County left Malleny Park with only a losing bonus-point to show for their efforts, and the Bridgehaugh side remain third-bottom of the BT Premiership with only six points from their first four league matches.

Final score: Currie 27 - Stirling County 24.

Scorers: Currie – Tries: Carson, Gray, Shiel, Forbes. Convs.: Forbes (2). Pen.: Forbes. .

Stirling County - Tries: Jones, Lyle, Nicol. Conv.: Hope (3). Pen.: Jones.

County’s Man of the Match, sponsored by John Graham Metals, was Ruaridh Leishman.

Currie: Harvey Elms, Chris Davies, Richie Vernon, Robbie Nelson, Cameron Gray, James Forbes, Charlie Shiel; AP McWilliam, Fergus Scott, Jarrod Firth, Hamish Bain, Stephen Ainslie, Rhys Davies, Thomas Gordon, Ross Weston (capt.). Replacements: Graeme Carson, John Cox, Dan Marek, D. Hall, Richard Sneddon.

Stirling County: Jonny Hope (capt.), Craig Pringle, Jake Cresswell, Fraser Lyle, Bruce Sorbie, Ross Jones, Nemia Kenatale; Colin Hutton, Reyner Kennedy, Adam Nicol, Hamilton Burr, Adam Sinclair, Ruaridh Leishman, Shaun McDonald, Alex Taylor. Replacements: Matt Emmison, Mark Hunter, Struan Robertson, Ryan Elliston, Matt Donaldson.

Referee: Dunx McClement.