Blair Lose to League Leaders

Saturday 11 Sep 10, Blairgowrie played hosts to Madras RFC who were relegated from Division II last season but are currently unbeaten in the league after 3 games. The home side started well but Madras went into an early lead with a penalty but Blairgowrie responded positively with some excellent play by both forwards and backs allowing Peter Duncan to score in the corner. Blairgowrie continued to play some good rugby but a mistake by Blairgowrie allowed the Madras winger to score a breakaway try which was then quickly followed with a second breakaway try after Blairgowrie had knocked on in the middle of the park with the referee playing advantage to the visitors. Blairgowrie quickly reduced the deficit with a penalty by Stephen Souter and for a long period pinned the visitors back in their own 22 meter area but could not break through a well drilled Madras defence. With minutes of the first half remaining Madras scored yet another breakaway try to make the half time score Blairgowrie 8 Madras 24.

From the restart Blairgowrie continued to press the Madras defence with long periods of play in the Madras half. With the visitors slowing the ball down and conceding penalties Stephen Souter converted 3 penalties in quick succession to bring Blairgowrie back within 7 points of the lead. At this point of the match it looked as if Blairgowrie were the stronger of the two teams but unfortunately for the home side they could not convert possession and pressure into points. With the home side looking to have run out of steam the visitors added two more tries in the closing minutes to make the final score Blairgowrie 17 Madras 38.

Team : Mike Lee, Rory Philip, Ryan Walker, Ewan Morrison, Alan Clarke, David Grieve, Russell Edward, Kev Brown, John Cockburn, Gavin Wynd, Peter Duncan, Fraser Bissett (captain), Liam Tweedie, Michael Black, Stephen Souter, Alec Watson, Liam McLaren, Al Guild.

While Madras deserved the win Blairgowrie will feel disappointed that they did not at least secure a bonus point from this game bearing in mind the amount of possession that they had during the game. Following the match captain Fraser Bissett thanked both Madras and referee Duncan Campbell for a good game, local businessman Jim Gellatly for sponsoring the match and Ralph Donaldson for preparing the sponsors lunch. Man of the match points were awarded to Mike Lee - 3 points, Ewan Morrison - 2 points, Russell Edward -1 point.

This satrurday (19th) Blairgowrie travel to Carnoustie who have also won their first three games of the season and are likely to be challenging for the title at the end of the season. Team selection and travel arrangements will be announced at training and it is imperative that all players turn up for training which takes place at the J J Coupar Park at 7.00 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.