A Day to Forget for Perthshire
Garnock 95 – 14 Perthshire
Perthshire struggle to hold back the flood.
Due to the terribly wet weather rendering the North Inch unplayable for a month, it was 4 week’s since the 1XV had played a match. Unavailability within the Senior Section and a few of late call-offs due to flooding left Perthshire staring at the prospect of traveling down to table topping Garnock with only 14 players. Head Coach Graham “Smudge” Smith bravely volunteered to roll back the years and pull on the boots so that the fixture could be fulfilled, however there was no-one more relieved when additional players were sourced on the bus journey down to fill out the starting XV and give him a reprieve.
Despite arriving in good time and completing a good warm up, Perthshire started the game as if they had just got off the bus. Having kicked off to Garnock, powerful carries broke the Perthshire line within the first 10 seconds of the game and this was a trend which Perthshire could not arrest for the initial 25 minutes of the game. Weak defence, a scrum operating in reverse and an inability to hold onto ball left Perthshire trailing by 40-0 before they managed to gain any level of territory or possession.
Perthshire gradually built phases and created opportunities to get on the scoreboard – most notably a Mat Rae linebreak and a series of pick and goes right on the Garnock line. However, these proved unfruitful with the Garnock defence holding strong, before punishing the ‘Shire at the other end. The most chastening on first halves ended with the score: Garnock 52 – 0 Perthshire.
Perthshire spoke at half time about standing up, getting on the scoreboard and putting a bit of pride into the jersey. Although Perthshire still struggled to contain Garnock’s attacking threats in the second half, they did manage to get a couple to tries on the scoreboard.
The first of these came following a fantastic 50:22 by Andrew Guthrie. This provided the attacking platform and although Garnock defended a number of phases inside their own 22, they were eventually penalised and a quick tap penalty was fed to Ben Marshall who touched down in the left-hand corner.
The second Perthshire try was score by Simon McGarry following a series of attacking phases inside the Garnock 22. Eventually Calum Bruce found James Mair with a flat pass and his half break allowed him to free his arms and feed McGarry to dot down over the whitewash.
In spite of these scores, when the referee’s final whistle blew it was with the score reading an incredibly disappointing, Garnock 95 – 14 Perthshire.
Perthshire are back at the North Inch this Saturday when they have a chance to redeem themselves against North Berwick. Kick off is at the earlier time of 2pm and any support would be greatly appreciated. The 2XV match against Rosyth was called off due to waterlogged pitches, they too return to action away against Grangemouth 2XV on Saturday.
We would also like to say a massive thank you to Josh, Jack & Connor who stepped in to play for the 1XV and all put in a great effort on what turned out to be a very difficult day.
Photos from Garnock Facebook page.
