Crowds come out in force to remember Granny G and witness performance befitting her memory

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.