Hard Earned Win at JJ Coupar Park
Saturday 09 Oct 10, Blairgowrie welcomed Alloa RFC to the JJ Coupar Park knowing full well that it would be a keenly contested match with the visitors currently sitting one place above Blairgowrie in the Caledonia Midlands League Divison II.
From the kick off it was Alloa who applied the early pressure and only some try saving tackles by Davie Grieve and the Blairgowrie back line prevented the visitors going into an early lead. Blairgowrie soaked up this early pressure and went close to opening the scoring after some good work by Alan Clarke and Mark Reddin only for Ewan Morrison to be stopped short of the try line. With 20 minutes of the first half gone and still no scoring Blairgowrie broke out of defence with some great passing between forwards and backs with Mike Lee evading a number of tackles before releasing the ball to Ewan Morrison who fed the final pass to the ever supporting David Grieve to score in the corner. Stephen Souter superbly converting from the touchline. This score seemed to unsettle the visitors for a short period and minutes later Blairgowrie added a second try. With the Blairgowrie backs and forwards combining well Michael Black made an excellent break from his own half only to be tackled on the half way line. The ball was quickly recycled to the backs with Fraser Bissett side stepping two Alloa defenders to score near the posts with the try being converted by Stepehen Souter to make the half time score Blairgowrie 14 Alloa 0.
From the restart Alloa once again applied the early pressure but Blairgowrie were stubborn in defence with some great tackling by both forwards and backs. This pressure finally paid off for Alloa when they scored an unconverted try to reduce the deficit but Blairgowrie quickly responded with a penalty by Stephen Souter. This pattern of play continued for a large part of the second half but with less than 10 minutes of the match remaining Michael Black made yet another great break into the Alloa half. Again the Blairgworie pack recycled the ball quickly allowing Gavin Wynd to score in the corner to make the final score Blairgowrie 22 Alloa 5.
This was a hard earned win for Blairgowrie against a strong Alloa team and with a number of first team regulars unavailable for selection it was arguably the home side’s best display of the season to date with both forwards and backs fully committed throughout the match.
Team: James Buchanan, Liam McLaren, Mike Lee, Al Guild, Alan Clarke, Ewan Morrison, David Grieve, Russell Edward, Mark Reddin, John Cockburn, Gavin Wynd, Fraser Bissett, Michael Black, Peter Duncan, Michael Grant, Liam Tweedie, Stephen Souter, Alan Webster.
Following the match captain Fraser Bissett thanked Alloa and the referee for a clean but hard fought match. Thanks were also relayed to Robert Larsen for preparing the food and to Sandy McCurdy and to some of the Alloa players for their first aid skills in dealing with what looked a particularly bad injury to hooker Liam McLaren midway through the second half. Thankfully the injury turned out not to be as serious as was first thought. Man of the match points were awarded as follows: Mike Lee & Russell Edward - 1 point each, Mark Reddin -2 points and Fraser Bissett - 3 points and Man of the Match.
This Saturday (16th) Blairgowrie make the relatively short journey to Kinross with a 3 o’clock kick off. Team selection and travel arrangements will be announced at training which takes place at the JJ Coupar Park on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7.00 pm.
All Rugby Club Dinner Dance tickets have now been allocated but anyone without a ticket who would like to attend the dinner dance can add their name to the ‘reserve’ list by contacting club captain Fraser Bissett on 07925273736.