'Brown Boxing Day'

Thursday 26 Dec 08, a large number of players and ex players took to the field for the annual Boxing Day rugby match at  the J J Coupar Park in Blairgowrie. With over 40 ’players’ young and old turning up for the annual Presidents v. Captains match it was President Gordon Black‘s ‘Red’ team who went into an early lead with a try from Kev Brown with club Captain Ewan Morrison’s team quickly responding with a well taken try by Alan Robertson converted by Stephen Souter. This was quickly followed with a try by ex player and Edinburgh Accies’ winger David Rattray who scored in the corner after an excellent break by ex club captain Kev Brown.Some ten minutes later Kev Brown extended the lead for the ’Reds’ with his second try of the match which he in turn duly converted after some nifty handling by veteran Nigel Harding. From the restart the ‘Blues’ charged up field with a superb solo effort from Cally Gordon which was quickly followed by a try by local highland games heavyweight Pete Hart to make the half time score Reds 17 Blues 7.

From the restart it was the ’Blues’ who took the initiative with veteran Ralph Donaldson tackling like a demon allowing the evergreen  Cally Gordon to score his second try of the match which was quickly followed by another try by Pete Hart who dived over from all of 2 metres to put the Blues back into the lead. This lead was further extended after a great break by Fraser Bissett allowing Alan Robertson to score his second try of the match. Once again the Reds responded with a try by Gavin Wynd after some excellent running by young winger  John Cockburn. Going into the last quarter of the match and the score evenly poised at 22-22 Lewis Knox made a mazy run through the Blues defence to allow Kev Brown to score which he once again duly converted. Minutes later David Rattray made a superb break for the ‘Reds’ but was stopped short of the try line but once again the ever present Kev Brown was on hand to pick up the loose ball and complete his hat trick for the day.  With the clock ticking the Blues rallied and a superb break by ex player Brian King who off loaded the ball to club captain Fraser Bissett who took the ball at pace to allow him to score under the posts. With minutes of the match remaining the Blues made one final push with Al Guild making a superb break which was followed up by club captain Ewan Morrison driving over for a well deserved try in the final minute of the match to make the final score Reds 34 points Blues 34 points.

This was an excellent game of rugby with young and old all contributing to the occasion ably accompanied by referee Phil ‘Santa’Jones. Thanks were relayed after the match to all those who provided the after match food, those who manned the bar all evening and all those who contributed to the ‘secret Santa’.

See Boxing Day Pictures here...

The senior squad return to league action this Saturday (3rd) with a home match against St Andrews University with a 2.00 kick off. As such it is essential that all players attend training on Tuesday and Thursday at the J J Coupar Park. New players welcome.