Stirling County 14 - 34 Heriot's: Heriot's outmuscle Stirling

While not lacking in spirit, County were simply no match for Heriot's in the biff and bosh department and they may need to recruit some muscle if they want to stay in Premier One beyond next season. County coach Eddie Pollock fielded two opensides, and good ones too, in Robbie Boswell and Johnny Clarke but with the front five in full retreat for long stretches of this match, their influence was strictly limited.

Time and again County were forced into conceding a penalty at the breakdown as they threw in numbers in an attempt to steal or slow Heriot's ball. They were fortunate to see one yellow card, Clarke in the first half, because another referee could have produced half a dozen. With their big men under pressure, the County backs had to come up with something special and, while they managed one cracking score, their handling let them down too often for any others to emerge from the mess.

At least the home side got the start they wanted with a try after two minutes from livewire Boswell who was first to react to a throw that bobbled over the back of a five-metre lineout. With the wind at their backs County needed points in the first half and they collected another seven when they ran a turnover from deep inside their own 22. The ball went left to winger Ben Addison, centre Danny Gilmour showed great pace to round Marc Teague on the flank before taking the inside line and feeding the ball back to Addison for a 90 yard touchdown.

All Heriot's had to show for the first-half were three penalties from Wilson but they would have been confident of overturning a five-point deficit playing with the advantage of what looked like a twenty-point wind in the second half.

Sure enough the remainder was played out almost exclusively in the Stirling half of the field. Wilson kicked his fourth penalty early in the half and his fifth late in the game. Number eight Jamie Syme claimed a pushover try, giving Heriot's the lead for the first time. Teague added a second try, after Wilson spotted an unmarked blindside, and a third just before "no side" as County got themselves in a muddle trying to run the ball from the shadow of their own posts; the nearest thing to an "own goal" that rugby can offer. Appropriately enough Wilson claimed the last two points of the afternoon with his final conversion.

County: McGowan, Lindsay, Gilmour, Archibald, Addison; Hope, McRorie; Hunter, Moffat, Black, Mountford, Deacons, Boswell, Clarke, Bersanti. Replacements from: Simpson, Donaldson, Faill, Lyle.

Heriot's: Goudie, Teague, Saunders, Mill, Nimmo; Rutherford, Wilson; Dymock, Gillies, Blacklock, O'Connor, Osazuwa, Hill, Eccles, Syme. Replacements from: Bryce, Welch, Reid, Johnson.

Scorers: County: Try: Boswell, Addison Conv: Archibald (2) Heriot's: Try: Syme, Teague (2) Conv: Wilson (2) Pen: Wilson (5)

Referee: G Knox (Greenock)