Last Saturday
Blairgowrie travelled to league leaders Montrose knowing that
a win would take them to the top of the league.
Having been well beaten by Montrose in the corresponding game
last season this was always going to be a test of character for
the Blairgowrie squad. Having opted to play with the wind in the
first half Blairgowrie immediately put the Montrose defence under
pressure and after some excellent rucking and mauling by the Blairgowrie
forwards the ball went out to stand off Euan Ireland who cut through
the opposing defence to score under the posts and give Blairgowrie
an early lead, converted by Stephen Souter.
For the next
10 minutes or so Blairgowrie continued to pressurise the Montrose
defence with some excellent place kicking by Euan Ireland and
good driving by the Blairgowrie pack. This combination soon led
to another two tries with the ball passing through the hands of
all the backs for Michael Black to score two tries in the corner.
At this point Blairgowrie looked as if they could score at will
but the Montrose team rallied with two penalties with Stephen
Souter replying with a penalty for Blairgowrie to make the half
time score Montrose 6 Blairgowrie 20.
From the restart Montrose seemed to up a gear but some good defensive
work by Fraser Bissett and Peter Duncan prevented the home team
from scoring. Gradually Blairgowrie worked their way up the pitch
and were unlucky not to add a further score when the referee deemed
that the ball had not been grounded. From the ensuing scrum Blairgowrie
hooker Robert Larsen took a ball against the head, the ball was
quickly fed to Euan Ureland who in turn passed the ball inside
for the rampaging Kev Brown to charge over the line, converted
by Stephen Souter. Montrose to their credit continued to battle
and responded with a converted try midway through the second half
but almost immediately Blairgowrie responded after some excellent
handling by forwards and backs for Euan Ireland to provide the
final pass to the onrushing Tim Watson to score a well deserved
try under the posts, converted by Stephen Souter. With minutes
of the match remaining Euan Ireland hoisted a ball into the corner
which the Montrose full back failed to control allowing young
Michael Black to pounce on the ball to complete his hat trick
of tries for the afternoon and make the final score Montrose 13
Blairgowrie 39.
This was an excellent performance by the Blairgowrie squad with
some great passages of play involving forwards and backs which
takes them to the top of the league with maximum points and 4
bonus points after 4 games. With every single player contributing
to the result selecting the Man of the Match awards proved difficult
with both Alan Clarke and Robert Larsen playing particularly well.
After much debate Michael Black was awarded 1 point, Euan Ireland
2 points with the Man of the Match and 3 points being awarded
to Euan Morrison who tackled non stop for the full 80 minutes.
Team: James Buchanan, Robert Larsen, Euan Constable, Alan Clarke,
Gordon Black, Ewen Morrison, Duncan Campbell, Timmy Watson, Kev
Brown, Gavin Wynd, Euan Ireland, Peter Duncan, Fraser Bissett,
Michael Black, Andrew Cowan, Stephen Souter, Jackie Cockburn,
Alan Guild, Larewnce Menzies, Ryan Walker, James Larson.
This Saturday (20th) Blairgowrie are at home to Stobswell RFC
with a 3.00 kick off. Training continues on Tuesdays and Thursdays
at 7.00 at the J J Coupar Park.
See pictures
here...
