Blair Pay Dearly for Defensive Error

Saturday 1st Nov 08, Blairgowrie travelled north to Stonehaven to take on local side Mackie RFC in a Caledonia League Division 1 fixture. Following a minute’s silence in memory of Mackie club stalwart John Narbett Blairgowrie took the kick off and were immediately unfairly penalised when Michael Black was deemed not to have released the ball when in fact he had not been held in the tackle. Unfortunately this set the scene for the most of the match with the game being stopped far too often for fairly minor infringements. Within 15 minutes of the start Mackie had scored 3 tries after some woeful tackling by the Blairgowrie defence. Things did not improve for Blairgowrie when they missed a straight forward penalty in front of the posts and then were unable to ground the ball for a score after some good work by second row forward Peter Duncan. With minutes of the first half remaining the home side added another converted try to make the half time score Mackie 27 Blairgowrie 0.

Unfortunately for Blairgowrie it was much of the same from the restart with poor tackling allowing Mackie to quickly add another two converted tries. Blairgowrie eventually managed to string some passes together with Duncan Campbell playing for the first time at No 10 breaking through the Mackie defence to score under the posts - converted by Robert Larsen. Mackie responded quickly adding a further two converted tries before Blairgowrie put together their best move of the match after another good break by Duncan Campbell allowing Kev Brown to score after exchanging a couple of excellent passes with centre Fraser Bissett. Robert Larsen converted the try. Mackie added another try before the end of the match to make the final score Mackie 58 Blairgowrie 14.

This is match that Blairgowrie will want to forget with the Mackie forwards and backs being allowed far too much space and if Blairgowrie are to lift themselves off the foot of the table they will need to improve their defensive tackling. While this was one of Blairgowrie’s heaviest defeats in recent years there were some positives with some good work leading up to their two tries but this must be maintained for the full 80 minutes. Man of the match points were awarded as follows; Fraser Bissett -1 point, Ricky Williams - 2 points and Duncan Campbell - 3 points and Man of the Match.

Team: James Buchanan, Ricky Williams, Euan Constable, Peter Duncan, Ewan Morrison, Robert Larsen, Neil MacRae, Kev Brown, Gavin Wynd, Duncan Campbell, Ally Walker, Fraser Bissett, Stevie Stewart, Michael Grant, Michael Black, Colin Jeffrey, Jake Cockburn, Alan Webster, Strone McCue.  

This Saturday (8th) the Blairgowrie senior squad take a break from league action with a Scottish Cup first round match against Aberdeen Wanderers at the J J Coupar Park - kick off 2.00 pm. Training is at 7.00 on Tuesday’s and Thursdays at the J J Coupar Park. New players welcome.