Bombed in the South
Stewartry 52 – 8 Perthshire
Atrocious conditions and disorganisation hurt ‘Shire.
Perthshire made their longest trip of the season down to deepest Kirkcudbrightshire to face Stewartry. In stark contrast to the warm September afternoon when they met on the North Inch, the conditions were very wet, windy and not amenable to free flowing rugby.
The Eagles started brightly gaining a penalty of the first play, but failed to capitalise as the wet slippery ball was lost, the opportunity from Angus Walker’s strong carry & offload squandered.
Defending ‘Shire were guilty of going high and allowed Stewartry to kick their penalty downfield. Within a few phases the outside centre made a break and went untouched as he covered the distance to score a converted try.
Perthshire struck back immediately through the boot of Calum Bruce, kicking over a penalty won by Angus Walker at the breakdown, 7-3.
However, ‘Shire did not settle and in the poor conditions dropped the ball allowing Stewartry right back into their half. Soon the home team used a scrum under the posts to set the attack, and within a few carries were over for their second try, 14-3.
The men in Black & White became disjointed, nothing was working for them in attack and the defence softened. Only a solid effort from Laurence Knight stopped a certain try as he defended a 3-on-1.
It alone was not enough, mistakes compounded by penalties allowed the Castle Douglas team 2 more tries, one covering 50m in a single move, 28-3.
‘Shire were now up against it and the referee’s patience with the high tackles was wearing thin as he issued a warning to the players. Sensing the disorganised defence, Stewartry were over again in the corner, unconverted 33-3. Which is how it remained until halftime.
It was more of the same as the match resumed, Stewartry only needed a few minutes to work the blindside effectively, get in behind and run in under posts to extend their lead, 40-3.
The momentum swung as Perthshire gained a sustained period of possession, but were unable to penetrate, Stewartry equal to the task in defence.
The breakthrough came as Rabson Chipakupaku caught a clearance kick on his wing but seeing the space ran cross field to the other side, rounded most of the defenders sucking in the last man before releasing fellow winger Thomas Pounder, who finished the move in the corner. The wind just keeping out Calum Bruce’s conversion attempt, 40-8.
Now it was the host’s turn to exert pressure. It was not pretty but ‘Shire held on, Dan Rae making big hits to raise his team and James Mair with a crucial turnover on the try line to break the siege.
Minutes later a promising break from AJ Guthrie came to nothing as the support was too slow and a following ruck easily turned over.
Stewartry assaulted the ‘Shire line again, this time Cameron Craig the key man to relieve the pressure. The match then got stuck in no-man’s land. Tiredness and the conditions preventing either team from building a platform.
Eventually, Stewartry wrestled possession in their favour and playing tight, a series of short picks from the ruck base worked them up the pitch, then a tap penalty earned them a score under the posts. There was time for one more score by the home team, again short power plays the main weapon of choice and it ended, 52-8.
This was a real disappointment for Perthshire, while there were some individual bright spots, as a team the performance was lacking in many quarters. Defence was a key weakness with high tackles and soft shoulders gifting Stewartry possession, position and ultimately the points to run away with it.
The injury list grew with knocks to Ross Goodison, Laurence Knight and John Kelly likely to rule them out for a few matches. The next week of training will be crucial ahead of the rescheduled derby match away to Strathmore at Inchmacoble Park.
The Eagles will also travel to Strathmore next weekend making it a double header. They will be looking to build on recent form and see if they can get a deserved win on the road. It was close but not to be in Bo’ness, where a try from Man-of-the-Match Ross Alexander and 30m penalty by James Whyte were not enough as injuries took their toll. The numerical advantage Bo’ness had to bring players off the bench gave them the edge as they won 15-8 in a match shortened by the casualty list.
1XV photos taken by Catriona Imrie.
