Super Performance by Under 16’s

Sunday 21 Dec 08, Blairgowrie under 17’s played hosts to Falkirk at the J J Coupar Park. Despite the very cold and windy conditions both teams produced some excellent rugby with Blairgowrie being the victors in a closely contested match. It was the home side who went into an early lead with a well taken try by Blair Wynd converted by John Neil and despite some excellent driving by the Blairgowrie forwards and some fine individual runs by the Blair Gowrie backs the score remained 7-0 at the interval.

From the restart it was Falkirk who took the early initiative with their Scottish international trialist scoring two quick tries early in the second half to put them in the lead. Despite this setback the Blairgowrie players responded well with Jordan Ramsay-Fraser driving over for a try converted by John Neil after some great driving by the Blairgowrie forwards. Blairgowrie were unlucky not to add to their score when  a John Neil try was disallowed for an alleged forward pass after a superb run by Blair Wynd but minutes later front row forward Alan Stirling drove over to put Blairgowrie into a 19-10 lead. With minutes of the match remaining Falkirk scored another converted try making it a very nervous final few minutes before referee Gordon Black blew the final whistle with Blairgowrie winning 19 - 17.

This was a good performance by the Blairgowrie squad bearing in mind the very windy conditions and the fact that there were a number of key players missing on the day and much credit must go to coaches Cally Gordon, Ian Simpson and Jake Cockburn for the work that they have done with this very promising squad of players. Thanks were relayed after the match to referee Gordon Black and to Hazel Thom for preparing the after-match food.

Team: Alan Stirling, Ben MacDonald, Stuart Lindsay, Findlay Gray, Callum Bruce, Connor Boag, Roy Edgar, Jordan Ramsay-Fraser, John Neil, Blair Wynd, Tom Rattray, David Thom, Ryan Lynn, Jordan Lynn, Connor Boylan, Alan Marshall.

The next match for the under 17’s will be on 11 January when they will travel to Inverness to meet Stornoway in a Caledonian League match.