Last Minute Penalty Wins It For Blair

Saturday 28th Nov 09, Blairgowrie RFC played hosts to Crieff & Strathearn RFC in the first round of the Scottish Hydro Electric Regional Bowl competition. With the visitors currently a league above Blairgowrie this was always going to be a tough match for the home side and so it turned out to be. Blairgowrie were led onto the pitch by young mascot for the day Mathew Duncan and with the sun shining playing conditions were near perfect. From the kick off it was Crieff who applied the early pressure with Blairgowrie being pinned back in their own half of the pitch for the first quarter of the match. Some stout defending by Fraser Bissett, Peter Duncan and Michael Black ensured that the scoreboard was kept clean until they conceded a penalty in front of their own posts to give the visitors the lead midway through the first half. Blairgowrie responded positively with two  excellent breaks from Peter Duncan and Michael Black but on both occasions there was insufficient support to convert these runs into points. Both teams continued to make mistakes with both teams missing kickable penalties. With the first half coming to a close Blairgowrie had a player sin binned for killing the ball and within a minute Crieff took advantage of some sloppy tackling by Blairgowrie to score under the posts to make the half time score Blairgowrie 0 Crieff 10.

From the restart the home side took the early initiative but too often unforced errors by both Blairgowrie backs and forwards allowed the ball to be turned over. Following another two missed penalties by Blairgowrie and another missed penalty by Crieff it looked as if the visitors would hold out for the win but the home side did not give up. A superb break by winger Michael Black was halted on the Crieff 22 meter line and from the resultant scrum the ball was quickly fed out to Ally Walker to score in the corner. This was quickly followed by a successfully converted penalty by Stephen Souter to reduce the deficit to 2 points with 5 minutes of the match remaining. With both teams having failed yet again to convert kickable penalties and time fast running out Blairgowrie were awarded a penalty just inside the Crieff half. With nerves at breaking point Stephen Souter slotted the kick between the posts with the last kick of the match to secure the win much to the delight of the home players and supporters. Final score Blairgowrie 11 Crieff 10.

While this was not a game for the rugby purist with long periods of scrappy play from both sides credit must go to Blairgowrie who battled hard for the win having been dominated by Crieff in the first half. Credit also to Stephen Souter who under immense pressure slotted the penalty with the last kick of the match. While there were a number of contenders for the man of the match points including stand off Michael Simpson the points were awarded to Peter Duncan and Stephen Souter - 1 point each; Fraser Bissett - 2 points and Michael Black - 3 points and the Man of the Match award.

Team: Ryan Walker, Robert Larsen, Euan Constable, Mark Reddin, Ewan Morrison, Rory Philip, Neil MacRae, Kev Brown, Gavin Wynd, Michael Simpson, Peter Duncan, Fraser Bissett, Michael Black, Ally Walker, Michael Grant, Al Guild, Jake Cockburn, Cally Gordon, Alan Webster, Stephen Souter, Liam McLaren.

Following the match captain Gavin Wynd thanked Crieff and referee Chris Webster for a hard fought match. Thanks were also relayed to Match sponsors Blairgowrie Golf Club and to Ralph Donaldson and Gordon Black for preparing the food for the sponsors and to Fraser Bissett, Gavin Wynd and Rory Philip for preparing the food for the players.

This Saturday (5th) sees a return to league duty with a home match against Harris Academy FP’s with a 2.00 kick off. With Harris being serious challengers for the league title this will be another difficult game for Blaigowrie. Unfortunately one or two players have been conspicuous by their absence at training recently so a full turnout at training on Tuesday and Thursday evenings is imperative.

See pictures here...