Souter Slots Sixteen Points

Saturday 28 Mar 09, the Blairgowrie senior squad played hosts to Mackie RFC who had won convincingly at home in Stonehaven earlier in the season. Team captain Ewen Morrison opted to play with the wind in the first half and started off strongly with the referee awarding the home team a penalty in the first minute of the match. From the half way line Blairgowrie full back Stephen Souter struck the ball perfectly but unfortunately the ball hit the upright thus denying Blairgowrie an early lead but made amends 5 minutes later with a well taken penalty to put the home side into a 3- 0 lead.

At this point of the match Blairgowrie were on top with some good rucking and mauling by the Blairgowrie forwards releasing Ally Walker and Michael Black who won a another penalty for Blairgowrie which Stephen Souter converted to put the home side into a 6-0 lead. Despite Blairgowrie enjoying much of the possession it was Mackie who scored the first converted try of the match to take the lead. This setback did not affect the home side who went straight up the pitch for Stephen Souter to kick his third successful penalty of the day. With forwards Peter Duncan, Neil MacRae and Ryan Walker forcing Mackie to make errors inside their own 22 meter area Blairgowrie were awarded a 5 meter scrum. From the scrum No 8 Kev Brown picked up the ball and quickly passed it to Gavin Wynd who in turn fed the ball inside to Stephen Souter to score under the posts which he then duly converted. Half time Blairgowrie 16 Mackie 7.

With the wind behind them in the second half Mackie put pressure on the home defence and despite some handling on the deck by the Mackie forwards the referee awarded a free kick which the visiting full back placed in the corner. From the resulting lineout Mackie secured the ball to drive over for a try in the corner. Blairgowrie continued to defend heroically with some great defensive tackling by Ewen Morrison, John Jenkins and Fraser Bissett with Michael Black arguably putting in the hit of the day against the opposing prop forward. With Blairgowrie defending well a loose ball was picked up in midfield by the Mackie centre to score another converted try. Blairgowrie were however not going to give up easily and were unlucky not to have added to their points tally when Robert Larsen drove over the line only for the referee to have adjudged that the ball had not been grounded properly. Similarly Mackie thought they had scored at the other end of the pitch when their hooker drove over but the referee had adjudged that Neil MacRae had prevented the ball from being grounded. With minutes of the match remaining and Blairgowrie looking to have secured at least a losing bonus point the Mackie No 8 picked up the ball from a blatantly offside position to score under the posts to make the final score Blairgowrie 16 Mackie 26.

Team: Euan Constable, Robert Larsen, Jake Cockburn, Peter Duncan, Ewen Morrison, Neil MacRae, Ryan Walker, Stephen Souter, Michael Black, Fraser Bissett, Ally Walker, Michael Grant, Sean Malone, John Jenkins, Colin Jeffries, Gordon Black.

Despite the final scoreline this was a much improved effort by Blairgowrie with some good passages of play by both forwards and backs and if they can refrain from giving away possession in the middle of the park a win could be just around the corner.

Following the match club captain Ewen Morrison thanked the Mackie team and the referee for a hard fought match and also a big thanks to Al Guild (still recovering from injury) for making the after match food. Man of the Match points were awarded as follows; Stephen Souter - 1 point, Fraser Bissett - 2 points and Peter Duncan - 3 points and The Man of the Match.

This weekend Blairgowrie are at home to Orkney RFC with an 11.00 kick off to allow the islanders to get back up the road to catch the evening ferry from Aberdeen to Orkney.

There will be a Race Night in the evening starting at 7pm with first race at 7:30pm. The is in support of The Hearts and Heroes Challenge. Money raised from this event will be used to support the work of the three charities involved: Poppyscotland, The Sportsman’s Charity and Hearts & Balls