Perthshire Lose the Territorial Battle

Perthshire 7 – 41 Hillhead Jordanhill

Eagles start brightly but then pinned back and defeated in second half.

Hopes were high amongst the Perthshire squad for an upset after another strong week of training with 30+ in attendance at the sessions. Hillhead are a well disciplined and effective team but the Eagles’ felt they could raise their game to overcome the visitors.

Hillhead kicked off and the first few minutes were of short attacks then clearance kicks. Neither team really had the edge with the kicking tennis and the ball was sent back & forth. Hillhead then seized some territory and started to go through the attacking motions. Perthshire, in red & black, were meeting the attack and holding it back.

Stretching the attack wide, to see if they could get round the home team, Hillhead shifted it along the backline. Jonny Armitt read the play and intercepted, then raced 60m out-sprinting the cover defence to score under the posts. Aidan Watson added the extras and ‘Shire had the lead 7-0.

Almost immediately Hillhead took the ball and were back probing for weaknesses in the ‘Shire line. Ross Goodison sensed an opportunity for a counter ruck, effected the turnover and the ball was booted downfield. The chase from Perthshire was poor and Hillhead used the open space in front to surge into the 22. With ‘Shire backpedalling, quick rucks took the play from left to right and Hillhead crossed the whitewash in the corner. A superb touchline conversion drew the teams level, 7-7.

Next it was Perthshire’s turn to counterattack. Aggressive defence forced Hillhead to spill the ball and it was hacked through. First to react, Mat Rae secured possession for the home team and after a quick ruck AJ Guthrie booted the ball to the corner. The chase was good and Hillhead knocked on awarding ‘Shire a scrum 10m out.

From here the backline came to life and created an overlap; spun out to the wing but the scoring pass was too fast and went in to touch rather than to hand. Returning for a penalty Perthshire went to the lineout. Secured, the maul rumbled forward then the pack broke out and over a series of short picks edge closer to the line. The ball then went out wide but ‘Shire were isolated and Hillhead reacted best to win the turnover and clear their lines.

Play got stuck in the midfield with Hillhead in possession but unable to make any ground; then a break came through the centre. With only AJ Guthrie to beat the Hillhead flanker fancied his chances but he was wrong, the fly-half chopping him down and stalling the momentum. Soon after Hillhead were awarded a penalty for an offside, elected to kick and scored the 3 points.

The tempo was high and the teams evenly matched. The speed was causing both teams to concede penalties. Kicking one in to the 22, Hillhead played it off the top from the lineout and sent a player up the centre. A sublime offload allowed the support runner in behind and despite the might of Dan Rae he managed to get over and ground the ball for a converted try, 7-17.

The remainder of the half was all Perthshire. A series of 3 penalties on the Hillhead 22 followed but each time the ball was intercepted, dropped or turned over. Halftime came as a relief to Hillhead but to Perthshire’s frustration with nothing to show for all their efforts.

The second half began with some changes, Matt Stevens & Simon McGarry came off with Tom Bartlett & Tom Whamond in their place. The latter making an immediate impact to win the kick-off and keep the ball in play with an out-the-back pass.

Frustrated again, Perthshire knocked on and Hillhead turned on their ruthless instinct to score in the corner, 7-22. Perthshire were then straight back under the cosh. Battling under the posts a turnover won a brief reprieve but try as they might ‘Shire could not escape their own half.

Changes came with AJ Guthrie & Lewis Murrie making way for John Kelly & Andrew Sanderson. The kicking game from Hillhead was near perfect. Anytime Perthshire got close to halfway, the visitors’ fly-half would send it back down into the corner.

After what seemed like an eternity, Perthshire got a break and some quick phases took them to halfway. Here Hillhead effected the turnover then picked and kicked through. They looked to have scored but the referee judged the ball was knocked on before the grounding. It was desperate stuff from Perthshire, tackles from 1 to 15 just keeping a fired-up Hillhead at bay.

Expending such effort ‘Shire began to tire and penalties crept in. Sensing this Hillhead elected for a scrum and got the nudge on and won a second penalty. Returning for the scrum another penalty, then another were conceded. Eventually the power was enough and Hillhead’s No.8 picked from the base and covered the remaining 6m to crash over for a converted try. To add to Perthshire’s woes, prop Ewen MacDonald was shown a Yellow card for the repeated scrum penalties.

It wasn’t long before Hillhead took advantage of the extra man to score again in the corner, 7-36. Perthshire’s courageous defence led by Dan Rae and Simon McGarry held out any further tries before Ewen MacDonald returned to level the teams once more.

A strong carry by Rhys Darlington broke through and with multiple Glaswegians hanging off him he somehow offloaded to Simon McGarry who injected pace and burst into Hillhead’s half. With an advantage for offside a speculative cross-field kick nearly paid off before being brough back.

Perthshire now were camped in the opposition half but got no change. Forward carries, back line manoeuvres, lineout mauls, kicks through; try as they might Perthshire could not breach the try-line. With time ebbing away Hillhead managed to counter-attack and in the final play squeezed over in the corner. The conversion missed the referee signalled fulltime, 7-41.

There was plenty of solid performances from the team in red & black, but lots of frustrations. Hillhead played a clever game and took their chances, and that was ultimately the difference. Next up is Murrayfield Wanderers away. It was 1 point game with the Edinburgh team edging it last time on the North Inch. Perthshire need no extra motivation to right that this time around and will look to take the Adam Pattinson Memorial Cup back to Perth with them. Supporters welcome on the team bus which departs from Bell’s Sports Centre at 12:15pm.

Photos taken by Jazmine Tomlinson.

Winning Streaks start with 2 wins……

Perthshire 2XV 37 – 10 Strathmore 2XV

Perthshire 2XV boost confidence with winning display in local derby.

Perthshire 2s welcome Strathmore 2s to the North Inch for the final home game of the season, off the back a tough win against Bannockburn and a fiery encounter between the two 1st teams 2 weeks before. Local derbies always hold special place for players and this game was no different. A strong line up was named once again. The order of the day from the coaches was discipline and hard work before the match.

The first 15 minutes saw heavy pressure from Strathmore, with Perthshire finding their way into the very physical game around the ruck area. However, Perth’s discipline held which resulted in working their way from the 22, up to Strathmore’s 5 metre with big powerful runs from Jack High, making a comeback from injury, and Wilkie Dad & Son duo supporting and following up with runs of their own. After a few pick ups and drives, Lee Graham forgetting that he was 12 for the day, decided to crash over for a try from the base of the ruck. Calum Bruce add the extra points 7-0.

With the engine room of Marley and Beaton supporting the front row, the scrum was becoming a powerful weapon and many a time the ball was taken against the head from Strathmore either directly or for a penalty given. Mikey Evans playing 9 again was a constant threat not only with his quality service to 10, but also darting through gaps from the fringes. His directness resulted in some “extra attention” from Strathmore both legally and illegally, however the young 9 who has been a revelation this season was not phased and continued to haunt Strathmore until an ankle injury in the 2nd half.

Despite the physical play by Strathmore, Perthshire continued to play running rugby. Angus Macpherson supported by wingers Calum MacDonald and Blake Laidlaw, using their pace to get deep behind the opposition defensive line. The front row rotated to great effect with Calum Coutts making an early appearance and creating more urgency at the break down. This created turnover after turnover, resulting in Jack High grabbing a second score, with Bruce adding the extra’s again, 14-0.

If Perthshire thought this was going to be an easy game, then Strathmore had other ideas, by seizing on a lack of concentration the home team, they managed to work a strong try in the corner, but the conversion was unsuccessful, 14-5.

With the clock ticking to half time, Perth managed to get back to the 5-metre line with powerful running from Hector Inglis, Arran Sheach and the ever-youthful Garry Coull making hard yards, but the chance was missed and cleared.

At the halftime talk coaches, Dave Lewis and Campbell Watson, once against reinforced that discipline and hard work were key, and players had to support one another.

The 2nd half started, and an early penalty just inside the half was converted by Calum Bruce to keep the score board ticking over, 17-5.

This scored seemed to free up Perthshire and more running rugby broke out with training moves coming out. Replacements Stuart Mackie and Angus Macfarlane made an instant impression by sitting down defenders and upping the physicality of the rucks back in the favour of Perth.

Lee Graham added another try to his fine performance before adding the pièce de resistance. Spotting space behind he dropped a lovely kick to the winger Blake Laidlaw, who gathered up the bounce and romped over the line in the corner for a superb converted try, 29-5.

The match was turning into a one sided affair, so much so that second row James Marley decided this was time to show his Sonny Bill skills with a show & go through the gap, with all players in shock at skill on show, Perthshire had the belief today could be the day for the derby win.

With Calum Bruce and Mike Evans replaced by injury, a rejig of the positions saw Liam Flavell step in at 9 and Rab Pittendreigh move to 10, however they both ensured that the pace didn’t drop. This resulted in Hector Inglis adding a try his collection and Liam Flavell knocking over a Penalty to make it 37-5.

The last 10 minutes of the game slowed down, due to the game being won, but this didn’t stop the Strathmore number 14 scoring a fine half pitch try. With time up, Perthshire celebrated a fine victory in, at times, tough physical conditions but stood tall with discipline and hard work and got the result they deserved. Next week Perthshire starts their final 3 games of the league all of which will be on the road, with a trip to Waid Academy FP. Can they make it 3 in a row for the first time in many a year……?