Sobering Defeat in Bishopbriggs

Allan Glen’s 41 – 7 Perthshire

Highly motivated Allan Glen’s punish a lacklustre Perthshire.

Numbers at training were good in the lead up to the weekend’s fixtures and there were plenty available players for selection with both Senior teams able to put out full squads. That seems to be where the good news stopped for Perthshire.

Arriving at Allan Glen’s later than planned the 1XV never got off the bus. Within 15 minutes Perthshire were down 17-0 gifting 3 tries to the hosts. Weak tackles and poor decisions kept the Eagles on the back foot and Glen’s were ruthless in exploiting these.

Eventually Perthshire clawed themselves into the match. The lineout began to function and the scrum was holding firm. A promising attack worked into the 22 and Jonny Armitt chipped a kick to the corner, for Tom Colvin to chase. He won the foot race against the defence but was judged to have been in touch when grounding the ball. Returning for the penalty ‘Shire opted for the scrum and minutes later Colvin got his try after slick hands in the backline gave him the space on the wing. Aidan Watson added the extras.

With parity between the teams both traded attacks and kicks, lots of kicks, as the teams waited for the other to make a mistake. It was Perthshire who blinked first, seeing a gap on the blindside a short pass was made but the Glen’s defender managed to strip the ball then run in 40m unopposed to score under the posts, 22-7.

There were bright moments for Perthshire, Dan Rae smashed into tackles knocking back the Glen’s players and forcing them into errors and Aidan Watson was alive and threating with ball in hand. Unfortunately, the rest of the squad were not firing; support was not quick, rucks too slow and defence too soft. A strong home support were there to witness Glen’s first home match of the league and they were treated to a one-sided score board. Perthshire never really threatened again.

The second half came with more of the same Perthshire putting in a few attacks before losing possession. Glen’s would then kick down-field or get in behind and ‘Shire would be forced to defend, before regaining the ball and slowly working up-field again, before fizzling out. There were opportunities: a driving maul, a series of short picks 5m out, space in the wide channels; but nothing worked. Allan Glen’s absorbed it all then Perthshire heads went down and a calamitous final period saw Perthshire ship more tries through bad judgements and, it has to be said, a lack of determination.

This was a sobering and tough result to swallow. Not just the score line, but the manner of the defeat. There were minimal personnel changes, but the contrast to the team that came out all guns blazing and full of fight to beat Greenock the week before and the team that failed to turn up at Allan Glen’s was stark. A turnaround over at training is a must if Perthshire want to get back to winning ways when hosting Whitecraigs at the North Inch on Saturday. All supporters welcome and encouraged to cheer on the team and help lift them to a better result, kick-off is 3pm.

The 2XV fared little better, going down 59-10 away to Crieff in what was the first outing for the 2s this season. The league was struggling due to various teams failing to fulfil fixtures and has now been restructured. Hopefully a better more consistent run of matches lie ahead starting this weekend with Grangemouth 2XV on the North Inch, also a 3pm kick-off.

Photos taken by Eric Mair available here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/18606813@N06/albums/72177720302402071