Saturday
19 Apr 08, a mixture of firsts and seconds travelled to Forfar
for a friendly fixture against near neighbours Strathmore RFC
with former player Pete Bruce making a comeback at scrum half
some 10 years after his last game for the Blairgowrie senior team
and club captain Kev Brown gracing the no 15 shirt for the first
(and possibly the last) time.
Blairgowrie
started off well against a well organised Strathmore team with
captain for the day James Larsen, Mike Bowen and Euan Constable
all making charging runs through the opposing defence early on
in the match with Gordon Black unlucky not to score within the
first few minutes of the game. This early pressure eventually
paid off with scrum half Peter Bruce scoring a try after some
good handling by Stephen Souter, Alan Clarke and Fraser Bissett.
The home side
quickly responded however with a push over try after winning a
lineout on the Blairgowrie try line. Balirgowrie in turn responded
equally quickly with a try by Fraser Bissett after some good play
by wing forward Mick Bowen which was converted by Stephen Souter.
With the game flowing from end to end some poor defensive tackling
by the Blairgowrie backs allowed the home side to score a further
two tries to make the half time score Strathmore 24 Blairgowrie
12.
With both
teams fairly evenly balanced for the first half Strathmore introduced
a number of experienced players at the interval which effectively
ended the match as a contest with the home side running in a further
two tries to make the final score Strathmore 38 Blairgowrie 12.
The first
half was an entertaining match for the onlookers but Blairgowrie
competed well in the second half against a much stronger team
with Gordon Black enjoying a rare opportunity to play in the back
row and unlucky not to score in the dying minutes of the match.
There were a number of good individual displays from some of the
Blairgowrie players with the man of the match points being awarded
to Fraser Bissett -1 point, Mick Bowen - 2 points and Gordon Black
- 3 points.
Team: Euan Constable, Michael Black, Jake Cockburn, Alan Clarke,
Mickey Todd, Gordon Black, Mick Bowen, James Larsen, Pete Bruce,
Stephen Souter, Alan Robertson, Fraser Bissett, Dafyd Jones, Kev
Brown.
This Saturday (26th) a squad of Blairgowrie players will be travelling
to Crieff to take part in their annual 7's tournament. Team selection
and travel arrangements will be announced at training on Tuesday
and Thursday.
See pictures
here...
