Blair Lose at Crieff
Saturday 30 Aug 08, the Blairgowrie senior rugby squad travelled to Crieff for the first league game of the season with no less than 6 new faces in the starting line-up. In near perfect playing conditions Crieff kicked off with Blairgowrie safely securing the ball and immediately attacking the home defence with some excellent play by the Blairgowrie forwards. This early pressure resulted in Blairgowrie being awarded a penalty in front of the posts which prop forward Al Guild calmly slotted home to put the visitors into an early lead.
The home side quickly responded with their back division putting the Blairgowrie defence under pressure but some excellent tackling from full back Michael Black prevented the home team from scoring. This early pressure from Crieff was however soon to be rewarded when some poor tackling by the Blairgowrie defence allowed the Crieff centre to run in a try under the posts to put the home side into the lead. From the restart Blairgowrie went up field and were awarded a second penalty in front of the posts which Al Guild once again converted.
With scrums and lineouts being fairly evenly contested by both teams it was the home side who were next to score after Blairgowrie had failed to tidy up a loose ball to put Crieff into a 12 -6 lead. The home side then looked as if they were going to add another try but some superb running and sidestepping by Polish winger Bogdan Stefaniak allowed Blairgowrie to clear their lines. With half time approaching Blairgowrie were unlucky not to score after a superb break by Kev Brown who then fed the ball to Mick Bowen who was caught just short of the try line to deny the visitors a try before the interval. Half time: Crieff 12 Blairgowrie 6.
The first quarter of the second half was fairly evenly contested but once again Blairgowrie failed to clear a loose ball which allowed the Crieff scrum half to pick up the ball and race under the posts for a converted try. Despite some great work by the Blairgowrie forwards and in particular by Duncan Campbell, Mick Bowen and new signing Rick Williams it was Crieff who were to score again after some sloppy tackling by the Blairgowrie backs. At this point it looked as if the more experienced home side were in control of the game but credit to Blairgowrie who quickly responded with some great play by their forwards with Rick Willaims once again to the fore. This pressure finally paid off with Kev Brown opting to take a quick penalty feeding the ball to Duncan Campbell who in turn released the ball to stand off Ally Walker who scored a try under the posts which he then converted. Minutes later a similar move started by Kev Brown allowed Ally Walker to score his second converted try to bring Blairgowrie to within 6 points of the lead with 5 minutes of the match remaining. With the game now fairly evenly poised yet another loose ball by Blairgowrie was picked up by the Crieff scrum half to score under the posts to make the final score Crieff 33 Blairgowrie 20.
This was a keenly contested match with the Blairgowrie forwards playing particularly well but at the end of the day it was the cutting edge of the Crieff backs that made the difference scoring five tries to Blairgowrie’s two tries. Despite this loss the signs are that Blairgowrie’s new coach Alan Webster and fellow coach Ian Robertson have the makings of a squad that can compete in this league although they will have a number of key players missing for the trip to Orkney next weekend. Man of the Match points were awarded to Rick Williams -1 point, Michael Black -2 points and Mick Bowen -3 points and Man of the Match.
Team: Ross Parsons, Rick Williams, Al Guild, Gordon Black, Ewan Morrison, Mick Bowen, Duncan Campbell, Kev Brown, Gavin Wynd, Ally Walker, Peter Duncan, Bogdan Stefaniak, Colin Jeffrey, Stevie Stewart, Michael Black, Timmy Watson, Mark Reddin, Grant Frogley.
This weekend Blairgowrie travel to Orkney for their second league game of the season. Team selection and travel arrangements will be announced at training. Training on Tuesdays and Thursday at 7.00 at the J J Coupar Park. New players welcome.