Spirited Performance at Kinross

Saturday 31 Jan 09, the Blairgowrie senior squad travelled to Kinross in a must win match. Blairgowrie started off well but for the first quarter of the match neither team looked like scoring until the Kinross centre broke through the middle of the Blairgowrie defence to put Kinross into the lead with a converted try. Minutes later Blairgowrie were dealt another blow when team captain Ewan Morrison had to leave the pitch with a bad back injury. Midway through the first half Kinross scored an almost  identical try to their first try to go into a 12 -0 lead. Blairgowrie were defending well with some hefty tackles being put in by Jake Cockburn, Neil MacRae and Fraser Bissett but far too often Blairgowrie failed to secure their own ball at scrums and lineouts.

 Half time score Kinross 12 Blairgowrie 0.

From the restart Blairgowrie went straight into attack and were encamped on the Kinross try line for at least 10 minutes with a Kinross player eventually being sin binned for persistent fouling. Eventually the Blairgowrie pressure paid off with Robert Larsen driving over for a try converted by Stephen Souter. At this point Blairgowrie looked the stronger team with some good driving by Kev Brown, Alan Clarke and Gavin Wynd but Kinross came back into the game towards the end of the match and only some good defensive tackling by the Blairgowrie backs preventing them from scoring a third try. With minutes of the match remaining Kinross were awarded a penalty which they duly converted to make the final score Kinross 15 Blairgowrie 7.

This was a match that Blairgowrie should have taken something from but having missed two penalties and having failed to convert their second half pressure into points they now find themselves at the bottom of the pack 1 point behind Garioch RFC who they play away at Garioch in two weeks time.

Team: Jake Cockburn, Robert Larsen, James Buchanan, Ewan Morrison, Peter Duncan, Ryan Walker, Neil MacRae, Kev Brown, Gavin Wynd, Duncan Campbell, Michael Black, Fraser Bissett, Ally Walker, Sean Malone, Stephen Souter, Mike Todd, Alan Clarke, Stevie Stewart.
Man of the Match points were awarded to; Al Clarke -1 point, Gavin Wynd - 2 points and Fraser Bissett -3 points and Man of the Match.

This Saturday (7th) Blairgowrie will play hosts to Glenrothes RFC who are currently second in the league and strong contenders for promotion. Kick off 1.00 pm. Players, club members and guests are invited to watch the home internationals in the clubhouse after the match.