Poor Show at Madras

Saturday 18 Oct, the Blairgowrie senior squad travelled to St Andrews for their league match against fourth placed Madras RFC. Blairgowrie started off well by using the wind to good effect by pinning the home side back in their own 22 meter area and were unlucky not to score an early try when scrum half Colin Jeffrey crossed the line but failed to ground the ball for the score. Unfortunately Colin got injured in the process and had to leave the field with a head injury. Blairgowrie continued to pressurise the home side and went into an early lead after Stephen Souter converted a penalty. Blairgowrie should have extended their lead after good attacking runs by Ewan Morrison and Peter Duncan but it was the home side who scored after intercepting a ball in midfield and then added a second breakaway try before the interval to make the half time score Madras 14 Blairgowrie 3.

With Blairgowrie playing into a strong wind in the second half a combination of basic errors and poor tackling by the Blairgowrie players saw Madras dominate for long periods with Blairgowrie being pinned back in their own half for the majority of the second half with Madras adding 3 more tries in the process. To their credit however Blairgowrie continued to compete to the end finishing the game strongly with some strong tackling by Stevie Stewart, Michael Black and Rick Williams. Final score: Madras 34 Blairgowrie 3.

This was a game that Madras thoroughly deserved to win and a game that Blairgowrie will want to forget. It has to be said that if Blairgowrie wish to improve on this performance it is imperative that all players attend training as to date far too many players are failing to attend training on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Team: Euan Constable, Rick Willaims, James Buchanan, Ewan Morrison (Capt), Mike Todd, Ryan Walker, Neil MacRae, Kev Brown, Colin Jeffrey, Ally Walker, Michael Grant, Peter Duncan, Fraser Bissett, Stevie Stewart, Michael Black, Al Guild, Stephen Souter. Man of the match pints were awarded as follows; Stevie Stewart - 1 point, Michael Black - 2 points, Rick Williams - 3 points and Man of the Match.

This Saturday Blairgowrie are at home to Aberdeen University RFC who have already secured 20 points in the league and will undoubtedly prove to be another tough test for the Blairgowrie squad. As such ALL players are requested to attend training even if they are unavailable for selection on Saturday. Kick off 3.00.