Marr 10 Gala 22

GALA beat National League One side Marr to secure their top flight status in Stirling on Saturday.


A blitzkrieg start seen Gala score two tries in the first five minutes, but a sluggish second half performance let Marr back into the contest.
 

Any pre match nerves were soon banished when when Marr failed to gather the Gala kick-off in the first minute and and Frankie Robson cashed in to surge over the line. 
 

Ewan Scott missed the extras on that occasion, but he had a chance to atone within three minutes. Gala extended the lead throug Euan Dods and Ewan Scott made no mistake on this occasion.
 

it looked at this point like Gala might embarrass the League One side. But that high octane start was always going to be tough to maintain.
 

Marr put up a spirited defence and their back line proved on several occasions that they deserved second place in this year’s National League One and their place in the play-off.

Gala rounded off their scoring for the match just five minutes before half-time Josh Irvine ran in a try from just inside the ten-metre line following a break from Gary Graham. Scott added the conversion to take the half-time score to 3-22.
 

Following the half-time break Marr responded with a try, just four minutes in courtesy of wing Scott Bickerstaff who was one of Marr’s stand out players on the day. Colin Sturgeon added a conversion to close out the day’s scoring with a final score of 10-22 to Gala.
 

The pressure of the match seemed to take it’s toll on both sides in the second half with handling errors and ill-discipline denying either side further points. Gala were reduced to 14-men again in the second half when Craig Borthwick was sent to the bin for an early tackle but Marr failed to use this to their advantage.
 

The relief of the Gala team was clear to see when referee Lloyd Linton sounded the whistle to end the match and confirmed that there will be premiership rugby at Netherdale next season.