Highland RFC

A clear, dry and cool day at Highland RFC was ideal for some great rugby.
Following last weekend when the team got drawn into a narrow battle this week’s plan was for a wide expansive game with quick ball through the hands.
A try in the first 20 seconds by Lloyd at number 11, converted by Max G, demonstrated that this strategy was likely to provide results.

Another quick try from Lloyd nearly followed but unfortunately a final pass that was forward denied Perthshire the score.

Highland came back with some great running from their Full Back, a lovely line to cut through Shire’s defence to score under the posts.
This was followed by another and Highland were ahead by a conversion.

Perthshire had lost their width and the game was slowing down. However a great improvement in rucking by Perthshire meant that Highland were not able to steal the ball and benefit. Perthshire’s defence held strong with many players contributing to the tackle count. Max G was exceptional with a high work rate and superb tackle technique.
A great hand-off and leg drive from Jack nearly got him over the line but he was stopped short by a determined Highland pack

A quick reminder at a water break of the strategy for the day and soon the ball was moving through the hands again.
Max G at Outside Centre, Fergus at Full Back and again Lloyd all making runs to get behind Highlands defence.

By half time Shire had 3 tries.

A quick try for Perthshire after the break and Highland’s heads started to go down.
Perthshire started to move comfortably clear. The forwards driving into Highland’s pack and then the ball going out to the backs for them to run into space.
Fergus and Max G both nicely drawing defenders before offloading to the wings.
Another two tries from Lloyd, both 60+ metre runs gave him a tally of 4

Man of the Match could have gone to a number of players. Lloyd’s 4 tries made him an obvious candidate.
But it was finally awarded to Max G. A brace of tries, along with his great defensive work and well timed offloads made him a worthy winner.
Perthshire look forward to hosting Ayr/Wellington in the final game in the first round of Shogun matches.

Not wanting to miss out on some game time the remainder of the squad headed down to Glenrothes for some time in the Lancer Conference. Unfortunately with low numbers Shire were not in a position to field a full team and with low numbers all round teams combined to give every player the opportunity to play competitive Rugby against and beside new players.

Shires Charlie A-H rose to the occasion by playing number 10 for Glenrothes and taking them to a win in the first game with Fin R providing support and constant pressure when defending forcing the opposition to think twice about their attack. Suilven and Ramsay worked together in the pack and proved a force to be reckoned with by leading the forwards to take control of their game and putting over a couple of tries in the process.

Nathan took a couple of minutes to settle into his new team but quickly found his feet with some great textbook tackles and more than often being the first in the ruck to secure the ball for the backs to move it into space.

Joshua H, although a forward, proved that with commitment you can play anywhere on the pitch and make a difference. Providing a foundation for attack with his one man rucks Josh also showed that with enough speed and determination you can break any line with a blistering 40m carry into an offload leading to a tremendous team try.