Kinross R.F.C.

Another narrow victory for Kinross but a much improved performance from the previous week.

Kinross went into this game knowing they would have to raise their game against a strong Alloa side who had suffered a narrow defeat to league leaders Strathmore the week before. There were a number of personnel changes for Kinross with Bird and Tees returning to the back line in place of Leishman and Carragher. Alan Falconer made his Kinross debut in the front row in place of Euan Goudie; Ian ‘Get There’ Barnett replaced Gordon Wood at second row whilst Mark Thomson and Andy Caldwell made way for Stuart Mullan and Andrew Morrison in the back row.

As they had done the previous week, Kinross started well and played the initial stages of the game in the Alloa half. The early pressure resulted in a penalty which was slotted with ease by Spence (0-3). Kinross kept up the pressure and were soon rewarded with a lineout on the five-metre line, Alloa chose not to contest but Wood somehow managed to knock the ball on and the chance was lost. After this initial blip the Kinross lineout went from strength to strength, Kinross looked solid on their own ball and managed to disrupt or steal a good amount of Alloa’s. The rest of the half was played out between the 22 metre lines with few clear-cut chances falling to either side. Alloa had at least three kickable penalty attempts but luckily for Kinross their kicker was having an off day and failed to convert any. It looked likely that the score line was going to remain the same until half-time when failure by Kinross to make early tackles allowed Alloa’s man mountain of a prop to build up a head of steam and go over unopposed in the corner for the first try of the game. The conversion was missed. Half time score 3-5.

The early stages of the second half were played out much the same as the majority of the first with the only scoring coming from the boot of Ian Spence (6-5). Kinross finally scored the all-important try when the Alloa stand-off was given a yellow card for an infringement at a ruck. The extra space in the backs paid off and Spence crossed the line shortly after with an impressive individual try, unfortunately the conversion was missed (11-5). When they returned to 15 men Alloa began to exert some concerted pressure on the Kinross line, a penalty ten metres out was taken on by their back row but unfortunately the hard, but fair, tackle by Ross Campbell led to a suspected broken jaw for the Alloa man. A lengthy stoppage ensued which led both teams to lose their focus, the match had barely been back on for two minutes when another Alloa man went down, this time with a suspected broken leg. When the match restarted for the second time the drop in intensity and tempo was evident but with less than five minutes to go Alloa spun out a penalty near the Kinross line and went over in the corner for their second try. How the referee managed to see the grounding is still a mystery! Even so, the conversion was missed and Kinross went into the last few minutes with a slender lead (11-10). The last few minutes were played out in the Alloa half and Kinross consequently celebrated their fifth victory of the season.

Another win under the belt sets Kinross up nicely for next week’s trip to Strathmore, which as always promises to be a tough encounter.

Finally, everyone at the Kinross wishes the two injured Alloa players a speedy recovery.

Team: I Harley, K Tolson, A Falconer, I Barnett, A Wood, D Lamont, S Mullan (c), A Morrison, A Fraser, F Ross, C Purvis, I Spence, C Tees, K Bird, R Campbell. Subs: G Queen (Used), A Dryburgh (Used), E Fraser (Not Used)