6 Tries Secure Bonus Point

Saturday 26th Mar 11, the Blairgowrie senior XV played hosts to Arbroath RFC for their last home game of the season. In dry but cold conditions it was the visitors who had the early pressure but some good defending by the Blairgowrie backs prevented an early score for Arbroath. Slowly the home side came more into the game but they squandered a number of scoring opportunities when the wrong options were taken rather than allowing the ball to do the work. Midway through the first half the deadlock was broken after Neil MacRae had secured a lineout ball which was driven on by back row forward Davie Grieve who was just stopped short of the line. Despite this Davie managed to pop the ball up to the ever present Mike Lee who drove over the line for the try. This score seemed to settle the home players who started to play a more expansive game and this led to what was arguably the best try of the match. From a lineout the ball was quickly fed out to the backs by scrum half Gavin Wynd and following some superb handling by practically the whole back line, winger Charlie Leadbetter touched down in the corner converted by Stephen Souter. With the first half drawing to a close the visitors were awarded a scrum inside their own 22 meter area. However for the second time in the match Blairgowrie hooker Rory Philip took the ball against the head thus allowing the ball to be quickly fed out to the backs with Stevie Stewart scoring in the corner having scored a similar try the previous week at Crieff. Half time score Blairgowrie 17 Arbroath 0.
From the restart it was the visitors who again applied the early pressure but despite this pressure could only secure 3 points from a penalty largely due to excellent defending by the home side. Midway through the second half the game had to be stopped for twenty minutes after an Arbroath player had suffered what appeared to be a serious injury and had to be taken to hospital. This extended stoppage appeared to benefit the home side more than the visitors as they scored a further 3 tries in the last quarter of the match. The first of these tries came after some quick thinking by Neil MacRae who took a quick tap penalty and passed to captain Fraser Bissett who took the ball at pace to score under the posts converted by Stephen Souter. Minutes later Neil MacRae got on the score sheet after he picked up from the base of the scrum evading a couple of tackles before scoring under the posts once again converted by Stephen Souter. With minutes of the game remaining Blairgowrie added a sixth try after some good rucking and mauling by the Blairgowrie forwards allowing the ball to fed out to Fraser Bissett to broke through a number of tackles to score under the posts converted by Stephen Souter.
Final score Blairgowrie 38 Arbroath 3.
This was a tough test for Blairgowrie but once they started to bring their back line more into play their performance improved. Thankfully the injury sustained by the Arbroath player did not turn out to be as serious as first thought but sincere thanks to Blairgowrie’s Sandy McCurdy who dealt with the situation most professionally and also to the local ambulance service who were on the scene within minutes of being called.
Team: Mike Lee, Rory Philip, Ryan Walker, Ewen Morrison, Neil MacRae, Russell Edward, Liam McLaren, Davie Grieve, Gavin Wynd, Charlie Fraulo, Fraser Bissett, Peter Duncan, Stevie Stewart, Charlie Leadbetter, Stephen Souter, James Buchanan, Michael Grant, Michael Black, Ben MacDonald.
Following the match Blairgowrie captain Fraser Bissett thanked Arbroath for a hard fought match, Grahams Pest Control who sponsored the match and Ralph Donaldson for preparing the sponsors lunch. Man of the match points were awarded as follows; Davie Grieve and Rory Philip - 1 point each, Fraser Bissett - 2 points and Neil MacRae - 3 points and the Man of the Match award.
With the season now drawing to a close with Blairgowrie currently sitting in fourth position in the league the final league match of the season will be away to Fife Southern on Saturday 9th April.