Blair End Season on a High
Last week Blairgowrie Rugby Club completed their Scottish Hydro Electric Caledonia League Division II campaign with two convincing wins against Atholl RFC and Alloa RFC.
On Wednesday evening Blairgowrie travelled to Pitlochry with practically a full squad to play their rearranged match against near neighbours Atholl RFC. From the kick off it was Blairgowrie who went into attack with Neil MacRae making an early break to offload the ball to Ritchie Duncan to score under the posts. Unfortunately for Blairgowrie young Liam MacLaren sustained a head injury early on and had to leave the field but Blairgowrie extended their lead after Liam Tweedie secured a high ball which was then fed out along the backline with second row forward Mark Reddin driving over the line for a try converted by Stephen Souter. Soon after winger Ally Walker crossed the line but the score was disallowed but minutes later Michael Simpson extended Blairgowrie’s lead with a well taken try after some great work by the Blairgowrie forwards. Half time score : Atholl 0 Blairgowrie 19.
Straight from the restart Ewen Morrison secured the ball for Blairgowrie which he then fed out to the backs with centre Fraser Bissett taking the ball at pace to score in the corner with Ally Walker adding a fifth try minutes later. With the bonus point firmly secured Blairgowrie looked at this stage as if they could score at will and so it transpired with a further 4 tries the first of these coming from young Michael Simpson after a superb break by Fraser Bissett who was then to score himself after some good work by Peter Duncan converted by Michael Simpson. Despite Blairgowrie dominating possession for long periods Atholl rallied well putting the visitors under some pressure but rather than clearing the ball from behind his own try line young Michael Simpson decided to run the ball evading a number of tackles to release his fellow backs with Fraser Bissett scoring under the posts at the other end converted by Michael Simpson. This score was quickly followed by yet another try by Fraser Bissett this being his 27th try of the season with the final try of the evening being scored by captain Gavin Wynd both tries being converted by Michael Simpson to make the final score Atholl 0 Blairgowrie 57.
This was a convincing win by Blairgworie with every member of the squad contributing to a well deserved win against a weaker than normal Atholl team. Man of the match points were awarded to Liam Tweedie and Ally walker - 1 point each, Michael Simpson - 2 points and Ewen Morrison - 3 points and the man of the match award.
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On Saturday Blairgowrie played hosts to Alloa RFC in their final Scottish Hydro Electric Caledonia League Division II match of the season knowing that if they could win with a 4 try bonus win they could secure third place in the league. Having just narrowly beaten Alloa away from home earlier in the season this was not a foregone conclusion and so it transpired with Alloa putting the home side under pressure in the early part of the game. Some great defensive tackling by the home side prevented Alloa from scoring early on and having and having dealt with this early pressure it wa sthe home side who went into the lead with a try from Micheal Black following a quick tap penalty by Fraser Bissett converted by Stephen Souter. This score seemed to spur on the home side and following a lineout on the Alloa 22 metre line the Blairgowrie forwards drove the ball all the way to the try line for Mark Reddin to ground the ball for a superb forwards try converted by Stephen Souter. Minutes later Mark Reddin made a superb break bursting through a number of tackles before releasing Russell Edward to dive over the line but the try was disallowed as Russell had been deemed to have put a foot in touch. With Blairgowrie now playing some really good passing rugby the forwda sand the backs combined to allow Michael Black to score his second try of the match converted by Stephen Souter. Unfortunately for Blairgowrie Michael had to leave the field having sustained a nasty injury in the process of scoring but this did not seem to deter the home side adding a fourth try through Ally walker just before the interval converted by Stephen Souter to make the half time score Blairgowrie 28 Allo 3.
From the restart Blairgowrie went straight into attack with Russell Edward courageously diving on a loose ball in midfield releasing the Blairgowrie backs for Michael Grant to score in the corner converted by Stephen Souter. Michael Grant then quickly added another try again converted by Stephen Souter before prop forward James Buchanan drove over for a try under the posts after some great work by the Blairgowrie forwards. Following some inventive kicking in midfield by Stevie Stewart full back Stephen Souter scored a fine individual try which he duly converted . This was quickly followed with a well deserved try by back row forward Russell Edward which looked to be the last score of the day. With literally seconds of the match remaining senior coach Alan Webster who had decided to introduce himself to the fray minutes earlier took a pass from Mark Reddin who was stopped short of the try line to score under the posts much to the delight of the onlooking spectators converted by Stephen Souter whose kicking display on the day was as good as has been seen at the J J Coupar Park for many years. Final score Blairgowrie 68 Alloa 3.
This was arguably one of Blairgowrie’s best performances of the season securing the bonus point that ensured that they would finish in third place in the league after a long and arduous season. While this was very much a team effort the man of the match points were awarded to Michael Black -1 point, Stephen Souter 2 points and Mark Reddin - 3 points and the Man of the match award.
Following the match captain Gavin Wynd thanked Alloa for a good match, referee Chris Webster for the most professional manner in which he refereed the match, Chic Kippen and Alan Smith of A & C Construction for sponsoring the game and to Ralph Donaldson and the players who prepared the food for sponsors guests and the teams.
Later in the evening players and guests enjoyed an end of season ’party’ and thanks go to Timmy Watson for doing the BBQ and to Sandy McCurdy and his Band for providing the music during the evening.