Lack Lustre Display at Kinross

Saturday 16 oct 10, Blairgowrie travelled to Kinross having already beaten them relatively convincingly at the J J Coupar Park earlier in the season and scoring six tries in the process. With half a dozen changes to the team line up since the home match in August this was always going to be a closer contest and so it turned out to be. From the kick off all the early pressure came from Kinross who could have gone into an early lead but missed a penalty in the early minutes of the match. Despite the home team having most of the possession and the early pressure it was Blairgowrie who went into the lead through a penalty from Stephen Souter after a Kinross player failed to release the ball after the tackle. Minutes later Stephen Souter added a second penalty after an off the ball misdemeanour by a Kinross player. Kinross continued to apply the pressure with Stevie Stewart and Gavin Wynd putting in some good clearance kicks from their own 22 meter area on a number of occasions.  Blairgowrie did venture up the park on a couple of occasions once after some good driving by James Buchanan and Ewan Morrison and the second time after some good strong running by Michael Black. On both occasions however Blairgowrie failed to retain possession at crucial moments and the opportunities were scorned. Finally Kinross made the breakthrough when they were awarded a penalty inside the visitors 22 meter area. With half the Blairgowrie team not paying attention a Kinross forward took a quick tap penalty and drove over the line for a converted try. With minutes of the first half remaining Stephen Souter added a third penalty to make the half time score Kinross 7 Blairgowrie 9.

Despite Blairgowrie coaches Alan Webster and Pete Ireland reading the riot act at the interval it was Kinross who came out of the blocks with all guns firing which eventually resulted in a second converted try once again following a quick tap penalty with too many Blairgowrie players not paying attention. At this point of the match Kinross looked to be in control of the match adding a successful penalty kick to extend their lead. This was followed by a couple of unsuccessful penalty attempts from the half way line by Stephen Souter but with 10 minutes of the match remaining Blairgowrie upped the tempo and following some good work by both backs and forwards Mike Lee who had worked tirelessly all afternoon drove over in the corner for an unconverted try. Despite a valiant effort in the last few minutes with young debutant Ross Donald putting in a try saving tackle Blairgowrie had to settle for a losing bonus point with the final score Kinross 17 Blairgowrie 14.

Team: James Buchanan, Al Guild, Mike Lee, Ewan Morrison, Mark Reddin (captain), Al Clarke, Ryan Walker, Russell Edward, Gavin Wynd, Stephen Souter, Michael Black, Peter Duncan, Ross Donald, Stevie Stewart, Alan Webster, Andy Barrett.

This was a disappointing display by the Blairgowrie squad particularly after last week’s committed display against Alloa. Unfortunately for Blairgowrie it was Kinross who looked the hungrier of the two teams for much of the game so it is imperative that all players attend training on Tuesday and Thursday in preparation for what will undoubtedly be a hard home match against Fife Southern at the J J Coupar Park this Saturday.

Following the match Gavin Wynd thanked Kinross and the referee for a good game and to Kinross RFC for their hospitality. Thanks were also relayed to the referee and to Sandy McCurdy for his first aid skills having to attend to quite a number of injuries during the match.

Man of the match points were awarded as follows: Ewan Morrison and Michael Black - 1 point each, Mike Lee - 2 points and Gavin Wynd - 3 points and Man of the Match.