Record Score for Blairgowrie Rugby

Saturday 17 Oct 09, Blairgowrie rugby club played hosts to Waid Academy FP’s in their Scottish Hydro Electric Midlands league Division II match at the J J Coupar Park. With Blairgowrie having lost to Waid in their previous two encounters during the 2006/2007 season this was an opportunity for the home side to make amends and they did so in style scoring 18 tries in the process and  setting a new record for the number of points scored by a Blairgowrie senior team in a competitive match.

With the Blairgowrie Rams mascot for the day Harry Foggo having led the home team onto the pitch Waid opted to take the kick off which Blairgowrie secured and went straight into attack with Michael Black scoring Blairgowrie’s first try within minutes of the kick off. A second try soon followed from Fraser Bissett after some excellent interplay between forwards and backs and minutes later he added another following a superbly timed pass from Michael Simpson. At this point Blairgowrie looked as if they could score at will and with only 20 minutes on the clock Kev Brown picked up the ball from the base of the scrum and popped the ball to fellow back rower Neil MacRae to score Blairgowrie’s fourth try and a guaranteed bonus point. Blairgowrie were now playing some of the best rugby seen at the J J Coupar Park this season with Ewen Morrison, Alan Clarke, Mark Reddin and Ryan Walker dominating the rucks . The next try came straight from the training ground with the ball coming off the top of the lineout to Rory Philips who was stopped just short of the line but scrum half John Cockburn managed to feed a quick ball to Kev Brown who drove over under the posts for the home side’s fifth try. Waid to their credit raised their game at this point putting the home defence under some pressure with two successive five metre scrums which the Blairgowrie defence handled well. A further three tries were added before the interval through Ally Walker, Stephen Souter and Fraser Bissett all following good passing moves by the back line. Half time score: Blairgowrie 61 Waid 0.

The second half proved to be more of the same with Blairgowrie keeping up the pressure and retaining good ball both at  lineouts and scrums. Michael Black scored two quick tries in succession to complete his hat trick before another training ground move saw Fraser Bissett go clean through the Waid defence to score with further tries coming from Neil MacRae, Michael Grant and two from Stephen Souter to complete his hat trick. Blairgowrie confidence was high at this point and rather than kicking a penalty Stephen Soutyer kicked the ball cross field for Ally walker to catch who in turn fed the ball to the ever present Fraser Bissett to run in his sixth try and Blairgowrie’s seventeenth try of the match. With the final play of the game Robert Larsen seized on a dropped ball by the Waid backs and fed the ball to Alan Webster who went over the line to complete the scoring. Final score Blairgowrie 122 Waid 0.

This was an excellent performance by the senior squad with every player making a contribution to an entertaining match. With Stephen Souter scoring 47 points on the day and Fraser Bissett scoring six tries choosing the man of the match points proved to be a difficult task for coaches Alan Webster and Peter Ireland. After some deliberation however 1 point was awarded to young Michael Simpson who belied his years with his performance, 2 points were awarded to Michael Black not just for his hat trick of tries but also for some solid tackling in defence and 3 points to prop forward and man of the Match Ryan Walker for covering practically every blade of grass on the pitch during the 80 minutes. Following the match, captain for the day Fraser Bissett thanked the referee and the Waid players for a good game, Wasek Leszkowski for kindly sponsoring the match and Kirsty Brown and Ralph Donaldson for preparing the food for the players and sponsors respectively.

Team: Ryan walker, Rory Philip, Alan Clarke, Ewen Morrison, Mark Reddin, David grieve, Neil MacRae, Kev brown, John Cockburn, Michael Simpson, Michael Grant, Ally Walker, Michael Black, Fraser Bissett, Stephen Souter, Alan Guild, Robert Larsen, Liam McLaren, Jake Cockburn, Alan Webster.

This Saturday (24th)Blairgowrie travel to Alloa Rugby Club which will undoubtedly be a much stiffer test for the senior squad so it is imperative that all players attend training on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the usual time of 7.00 at the J J Coupar Park. Team selection and travel arrangements will be announced at training.