HILLFOOTS RFC battled the tough conditions over the weekend as they paid a visit to Grangemouth Stags RFC.

Foots were looking for redemption following Grangemouth’s victory over them in Tillicoultry, but it wasn’t to be as they succumbed to a heavy 50-7 defeat.

Hillfoots started the match strongly, putting in some good territorial play and putting the Stags’ defence under a fair bit of pressure.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t convert this good play into points. Gregor Manson’s penalty from distance went wide at around the ten minute mark.

Stags grew into the match not long after and ran in three successive tries. One of these was converted and they were also awarded a penalty try for repeated scrum infringements, with Iain Anderson being sent to the bin for ten minutes.

Going into the break, Grangemouth had completely dominated the match, holding onto a strong 24-0 scoreline.

Grangemouth’s loosehead was shown a red card, providing the Foots with a lifeline, after he committed foul play on Foots’ hooker, who was unfortunately unable to continue in the match.

Tim Hardie won Foots their first points of the match with a try after he surged his way over the line to the left of the posts.

Manson added the extra points. Grangemouth responded quickly, however, as they scored their fifth try of the match out wide.

After this, Foots became consigned to defeat, unable to create real threats, eventually tiring and letting Stags run past their defence with ease.

Manson went into the book after blatant side entry of a maul, awarding Grangemouth a second penalty try.

In the end, Grangemouth ran out Foots 50-7, with Foots acting a mere shadow of their selves in previous matches.

A positive for the club was Tim Hardie recording his first try for the club, with his leadership helping to solidify the scrum.

Andy Fraser also came off the bench to make his debut for Hillfoots, in a match he will be looking to quickly forget.

Hillfoots will now take a week off before heading north to take on Dundee Rugby 2nd XV, and will be looking to use this defeat to bounce back against them.