Gala 18

Stirling Wolves 22

Bob Sneddon

at Netherdale

A POOR crowd, several injuries, gusty winds and in the end a defeat led to a fairly miserable afternoon at Netherdale.

With the televised Six Nations taking priority for many rugby fans, there was a sparse crowd lining the park.

Stirling stormed into a lead inside the opening five minutes.

Second-row Calum MacPherson forced his way over the line to touch down for the first try.

Jonny Hope added the conversion.

But Gala, with several players in unfamiliar positions, did play their way back into the match.

In the 21st minute Ross Cooke broke through before passing to Fergus Johnston.

Although the winger was tackled approaching the line, Gala recycled quickly for the ball to be fed along to Ben Gill to score in the corner.

Just three minutes later scrum half Simon Fairburn broke from inside his own half with a fine jinking run.

And on the Stirling 22 he managed to offload for Johnston to avoid three defenders before touching down for Gala’s second try.

Although both scores were unconverted, Gala were now leading 10-7.

Cooke extended the lead further just before the interval with a penalty.

The Maroons started the second half on the front foot with Johnston collecting a defensive clearance to allow Rex Jeffrey to force his way through several tackles.

And his offload to Gill allowed the winger to race in for his second try of the afternoon.

At 18-7 it was all looking good for Gala.

But back came the Wolves.

A penalty to touch led to a rolling maul working its way over the home line before Andrew Orr touched down.

And just after the hour Hope intercepted a careless pass on half way to sprint unchallenged for a score under the posts.

His conversion edged the visitors a point in front.

With 12 minutes remaining Hope added a penalty for an 18-22 advantage.

Gala couldn't find a response in the closing stages.

The defeat drops Gala from 5th to 7th in National One.

The next game for Gala is away to Watsonians on February 15.