On Saturday the Golden Eagles played a curtain raiser before the 1st XV cup tie against Howe of Fife RFC in Cupar, Fife. Not to be confused with The Wee Cooper who lived in Fife, Nickety, Nackety, noo, noo, noo!

We assembled early at the ground and it appeared that we were taking this game seriously as there was no sign of any alcohol in the changing room! The kit bag was produced, and the shirt lottery began. This wasn’t for your position number but more for one that fitted. This led to the sight of Big Dave pulling on the number 9 shirt and although he squeezed it over his mighty shoulders it was not long enough, and it did not cover his 12 pack. As he thought the sight might frighten small children and inflame any ladies present he changed it for a better fitting one. Eventually we were all kitted out and in a waft of ralgex we headed for the warm up.

As we only had 13 players a short discussion about positions was held and we went with traditional method of selection. 3 fat blokes in the front row, 2 tallest at 2nd row, team nutter at 7 and the more mobile fat bloke at No. 8. The backs were as follows gobby wee man at scrum half, the one with the most hair product and moisturiser at 10, slight fast guys on the wings, not so slight guys but faster than forwards at centre. After we stretched what needed stretching and ignored any pinging noises we had a quick run though of some moves.

Finally, we were ready to start. Howe kicked off and we gathered the ball and made our way up the pitch. After some good passing and drives by the forwards space was made for Jeremy to crash over from short range to score the opening try. The first half continued in a similar vein with the Eagles keeping Howe pinned back in their own half. There were quite a few handling errors in the first half which was surprising as you would have thought that the Fifers with their extra finger on each hand would have been better at handling. The forwards were dominating the scrums to such an extent that they managed a rarity in this modern age of taking two strikes against the head. The scrums were so dominant that for the second half Howe put some non- front row players in the scrum so that the scrums would be uncontested!!

With Andy Cummings pulling the strings (and muscles) in the midfield we ran in either 4 or 5 tries in the first half. I’m not sure which as I was only asked to write the match report after the game so wasn’t taking notes. Also, as I was playing it would have been quite difficult. The highlight of the first half was Jez picking the ball up from the base of the scrum “sprinting” forward and when tackled gave an excellent offload to Andy Cummings who scampered past 2/3 defenders to score. Luckily this was captured on video to prove that at least part of this report is true and its not all made up.

Dear Perthshire Rugby members

We have been advised that the funeral service for Georgina Watson will be held on Friday 1st November at Scone New Church, 12.30pm thereafter at Perth Crematorium at 2pm to which all family and friends are respectfully invited. Perthshire Rugby will be sending flowers with agreement of Georgie’s family. Donations, if desired, may be made to the Salvation Army.

Thank you

John McLaughlin

President

Perthshire Rugby

Perthshire 20 – Berwick 32

There was an intense and emotionally charged atmosphere surrounding the North Inch on Saturday as Perthshire Rugby Club called on all members and former players to come down and pay their respects to our very own Super Gran, Granny G, who sadly passed away on Thursday night. She has supported and served Perthshire for over three decades along with her husband Graham who died almost 2 years ago and this is certainly the end of an era for Perthshire. Georgie was known and loved by generations of players and it was great to see such a huge turnout on Saturday and there is no doubt that this inspired the current crop of youngsters to put in what was arguable their best display of the season.

The opening 10 minutes saw Berwick in full attack mode as they settled down quicker than Shire and soon took the lead with a penalty. Perthshire fought back strongly though and a solid scrum and well drilled lineout provided a solid platform for the backs to mount several good attacking moves. Mat Rae, Adam Dearden and Sammy Isac combined well but the ball was lost just short of the line. This was followed by Jonny Armitt being halted on the line and a sublime crossfield kick was collected by Mat Rae but he was also halted by an impressive Berwick defence. Shire were inspired by the large crowd and must have been wishing they could have this sort of support every week as they pounded the Berwick line. Dearden slotted a penalty to even the score but Berwick responded quickly and raced upfield to score out wide.

End to end play followed and although Shire had a smaller pack they were well on top in the tight and their young and mobile front row were in magnificent form especially Kieran Ramsay who was found everywhere on the pitch doing the hard grind as well as his new role as auxiliary centre. Any team losing a player of the calibre of Duncan Clow would struggle to replace him but young James Mair at number 8 is quickly establishing himself as a highly rated replacement and his hard drives and tackles were a feature of the match. Andy Jack drove through the Berwick pack, the ball was quickly recycled a and a huge miss pass went out to Armitt, slicing through from full back and Shire were back in the lead. There was an aggression from this Perthshire pack which has been missing all season but there was a huge let off as Berwick found another gap in the midfield and only a forward pass prevented a try. For the 2nd week in a row Shire were leading at half time.

Berwick came out of the blocks like raging bulls in the 2nd half and scrum half Hardy ran straight through Shire’s midfield defence in the first minute to get back on the score sheet and only Sammy Isac’s brilliant last-ditch tackle prevented another try as Berwick tightened the screw. A penalty found touch and they launched a massive drive from the line out which was brilliantly halted by Shire but the try was only delayed as they won a scrum and Melrose escaped from the Shire back row’s clutches to squeeze over. The 15 -8 lead was now turned into a 15 – 22 deficit but the big crowd egged Shire on and Adam Dearden spotted a gap and pressed the accelerator to race through for a fine try. Berwick pressed again and rather than take the simple option of clearing from their own line, Shire tried to pass their way out of the 22 but conceded a penalty which Webster converted. It was all Berwick now as they threw everything at Perthshire but the home defence stood firm although players were tiring fast. With 10 minutes to go a lovely crossfield chip caught Shire out and Berwick full back Hill collected it to stride over for a bonus point and heartache for Shire.

As the minutes ticked by Perthshire camped on the Berwick line and attacked ferociously trying to score the try which would give them a 4 try bonus and a losing bonus point as well. Penalty after penalty was awarded to Shire who kicked to touch but Berwick kept pulling the driving maul down. With barely 2 minutes left the referee was getting frustrated by all the penalties and admitted after the game that he was on the verge of awarding Shire a penalty try the next time it happened. When Shire won their next penalty, instead of continuing with the line out and drive, they took a quick tap but Berwick’s defence held firm. Another penalty ensued and they did the same but there was no way through and Shire were left pointless but pride has been restored and it is onwards and upwards from here on.

Let’s hope that the large crowd have been persuaded that a Saturday afternoon at the North Inch can provide them with some good entertainment and there is certainly someone watching from above who would second that.

Howe of Fife 39 – Perthshire 30

This was a hugely improved performance from Perthshire which beared no resemblance to the lacklustre performance of the previous week. There was an air of positivity about the team who had built up a fairly comfortable lead in the first half only to see it wilt in the 2nd half mainly due to injuries to two key backs. Callum Bruce and Jay Pettie were forced off and with no out and out replacement backs, Shire had to reshuffle with prop Kieran Ramsay moving to centre and Shaun Barton moving from back row to the wing.
Jonny Armitt kicked Shire into an early lead with a penalty after great work by the forwards and their magnificent work rate kept Howe pinned in their own 22 for long periods. The scrum was very solid and James Mair and Macca were securing good lineout ball. The Eagles continued to dominate and were attacking strongly when a Jonny Armitt kick was charged down gifting a try to Howe against the run of play.

Shire attacked down the right, Mair secured the lineout and Kieran Ramsay tucked in at the back of the maul as Shire’s pack steam rollered over the line for Ramsay to score a well deserved try. Armitt converted. Howe came back into the game with some good pick up and drives and they scored their 2nd try after hard work from their forwards. Undeterred by this Shire picked up the pace again and a wonderful break by highly promising centre Murray Ormiston gave Shire the lead when he outpaced the entire Howe defence to score. Armitt added the 2 points and just before half time he kicked a penalty following an Alcorn break to give the Perth boys a 10 – 18 lead.
An injury to Callum Bruce saw Shaun Barton move to the wing and within 5 minutes of the 2nd half Jay Pettie was also off having to be replaced at centre by prop Kieran Ramsay and all of a sudden Shire were deprived of two of their most effective forwards and influential backs. Barton had been causing chaos running all over the field tackling and harrying Howe and good as he and Ramsay are they are more effective forwards than backs. Howe were given a boost by this and upped their game accordingly scoring 4 tries in 15 minutes without reply to deal a hammer blow to Perthshire’s chances. Perthshire were stung into action again though and began a heroic fightback as players settled into their new roles and replacements Stevie Gray, Blair Twaddell and Adrian Venter all made their mark.  The intensity increased and finally Shaun Barton collected the ball and sped up the wing and over for Shire’s 3rd try.

All the pressure was on Howe now as Shire mounted attack after attack but a kick ahead and some poor tackling allowed Howe to score in the corner to seal the game. Perthshire went all out for the bonus point 4th try and received their consolation when Armitt scored and converted.
The signs are there that Shire are on the way back and a healthy and vociferous number of supporters turned up to cheer the team on. Berwick are next up on the North Inch and hopefully Shire’s injury list will improve and if the team show the same fighting spirit and get their defence organised then more wins should be on the horizon.