Solid Home Win Against Arbroath
Saturday 06 Mar 10, the Blairgowrie senior squad played hosts to Arbroath RFC for a rearranged Scottish Hydro Electric Caledonia District League Div II fixture. With Blairgowrie having narrowly lost to Arbroath earlier in the season this was an opportunity for the home side to make amends.
With playing conditions near perfect Blairgowrie started off strongly putting the visitors defence under pressure from the kick off with the first scrum of the day being awarded to Arbroath just inside their own 22 metre line. Some excellent driving by the Blairgowrie pack resulted in the ball being spilt by the Arbroath scrum half which Neil MacRae retrieved which he then offloaded to captain Gavin Wynd who drove through the visitors defence to score under the posts converted by Stephen Souter.
Minutes later Gavin Wynd was unlucky not to score a second try when he chipped the ball over the onrushing defence which the Arbroath centre could only partially clear. Unfortunately for Blairgowrie the ball fell to one of their forwards who knocked the ball on thus scorning an excellent scoring opportunity. Despite this Blairgowrie were soon to add a second try after a superb break by Fraser Bissett who ran through at least four or five tackles only to be stopped short of the try line. The ball was however quickly recycled and passed through at least six or seven pairs of hands for winger Ally Walker to score in corner converted from the touchline by Stephen Souter. A third try quickly followed when a poor clearance by Arbroath was charged down and Gavin Wynd picked up the ball to score under the posts for a fine opportunist try converted by Stephen Souter. At this point of the match it looked as if Blairgowrie were going to run away with the match but some very poor defensive tackling by the Blairgworie backs allowed the Arbroath winger to score a good try to reduce the deficit. With seconds of the first half remaining Stephen Souter converted a penalty kick from just inside the half way line to make the half time score Blairgowrie 24 Arbroath 7.
Unfortunately for Blairgowrie the second half did not live up to expectations partially due to too many Blairgowrie players making silly errors and losing possession of the ball in the tackle and partially due to some good defensive play by the visitors. With 5 minutes of the match remaining Blairgowrie winger Stevie Stewart broke through a couple of tackles only to be stopped in his tracks on the 22 meter line. Stevie did well to stay on his feet thus allowing the Blairgowrie forwards to drive the ball at least another 10 meters before the ball was released to Fraser Bissett who was stopped short of the try line before he offloaded to the supporting Ryan Walker who drove over to make the final score Blairgowrie 29 Arbroath 7.
This was the proverbial ‘game of two halves’ with Blairgowrie playing some attractive rugby in the first half but allowing the opposition to get back into the game in the second half mainly due to too many Blairgowrie players failing to retain possession in the tackle. Following the match coach Alan Webster thanked Arbroath and the referee for a good match and also the players for making the after-match food. While there were strong displays from a number of players including Ryan Walker, Al Guild, Neil MacRae and Fraser Bissett the Man of the match points were awarded to Cammy Kennedy -1 point, Kev Brown - 2 points and Gavin Wynd - 3 points and the Man of the Match.
Team: Andy Barrett, Al Guild, Ryan Walker, Mickey Todd, Gordon Black, Cammy Kennedy, Neil MacRae, Kev Brown, Gavin Wynd, Michael Simpson, Fraser Bissett, Michael Black, Ally Walker, Liam McLaren, Stephen Souter, Rory Philip, Jake Cockburn, Craig Gordon, Stevie Stewart, Alan Webster.
This Saturday (13th) Blairgowrie travel to Fife for a league match against Waid Academy FP’s with a 12.00 kick off to allow time for the Blairgowrie contingent to travel back to the clubhouse to watch the Scotland v. England international which kicks off at 5.00 pm. There will be a bus going to Anstruther leaving the J J Coupar Park at 9.30 am. There will be a limited number of spare seats for any spectators who wish to travel with the senior squad.