Hard fought win for Blair
Blair welcomed Fife Southern for the first round of BT Bowl to JJ Coupar on a glorious September afternoon. The weather brought out a large number of spectators which was great to see.
With both teams having convincing victories in recent weeks in their respective divisions, confidence was high on both sides.
Blair kicked off the match and straight away piled on the pressure with Fraser Black quickly up on the ball, forcing a knock-on from Fife Southern (FS). With strong defence and a number of knock-ons from both teams the play was limited to between the 10m lines until a break from FS which was dealt with by some great cover defending from Fraser Bissett and John McLaren. Unfortunately the referee awarded a penalty against Blair for being offside at the breakdown. FS slotted home the penalty for the first points of game after 10mins.
Blair re-grouped and went straight back up to the FS 22 with once again Black making a nuisance of himself at the kick off. After a couple of FS phases, taking route one each time, FS piled over a ruck only to be caught going off their feet. Stephen Souter sweetly struck the ball through the uprights to level the score after 15mins.
For the next 10 mins the play was between the 22s with neither team really threatening, penalties from both teams at the breakdown being the main cause! Discipline issues were to be the mainstay for the day.
FS continued their route one play which Blair dealt with well with great defensive work from all of the forwards who were getting no respite from the FS pack. The great work rate meant that when the ball did get to the backs, they were able to run freely with Fraser Maxwell, Bissett and Souter making some good forwards runs. Ultimately the poor discipline cost Blair threatening the FS try-line.
After 25mins FS had a lineout on the Blair 10m line, with Fin Ormiston leaping like a salmon, the ball was stolen and was quickly put through the hands for far-side winger Rory Grant to put on the after-burners and run it in for the first try of the day, a tremendous score with all the backs involved in the play. Souter converted.
FS kicked off and were quickly down on the Blair 22 after a couple of silly mistakes and a poor 22 clearance which led to Blair’s discipline once again being called into question. FS took a quick tap penalty only for a Blair player taking him out without re-treating the required 10yards, although did stop a certain try. Yellow card! Blair swapped in players to cover this and with FS opting for a scrum on the 5m line, and although a massive effort from the Blair 7 man scrum they struggled against the FS pack who, just got over the line for the try, converted.
With a man down, Blair upped their defence once again with more big hits from Regan Gordon, Black and stalwart Neil MacRae keeping FS at bay. After some more toing and froing once again the offside line was to be Blair’s enemy and with 2mins left on clock FS had another penalty within striking distance which was scored. Blair back up to a full 15 after the score.
Blair kicked off and disrupted FS who gave away a penalty, Ormiston kicked to touch and with the secured lineout ball it found its way out to John McLaren who seen a gap and chipped through only to be beaten by the dead ball line by inches. Unfortunately a skirmish ensued with his opposite number and both were told to calm down by spending 10mins in the bin,
HT 10-13
After some serious words from coach Ormie at HT, Blair came out in a determined mood, FS kicked off which was secured and after putting a few phases together Blair were back in the FS half. Great forward running from the returning Cammy Gray, Josh Key and Al Guild had FS in all sorts of trouble eventually managing a turnover and getting kicked out for a Blair line-out on the 22. Ormiston safely landed the ball in Russell Edwards hands who saw a gap in the line and darted through breaking a tackle from his opposite 9 before stepping the winger and scoring a great opportunist try in the corner to get Blair back in front.
With Blair on the front foot they continued to pressure FS and were quickly back in the FS half. Once again it was a bit tit for tat and with FS on the ball a tremendous turn-over from that man Black led to the ball being quickly fed out through the hands, testament to young Murray Davidson, to Rory Grant who left 4 defenders in his wake with a sheer burst of pace to score his second of the day. Souter converted.
FS kicked off and Blair were a bit too eager to continue pressurizing the opposition and gave away a kickable penalty for diving over the ball. Pen scored.
With both teams back to 15 players, McLaren was out to make amends and after another turnover from Black with support from Andy McOuat, Gordon and Gray, MacRae took up the position of scrum-half and once again the ball moved quickly out to the wing for McLaren to score holding off two tacklers in the process. Converted by Souter.
Blair had been playing some superb open rugby, only for FS to go back to their game plan of, route one rugby which Blair allowed them to do. After some forward momentum from FS they found themselves with a lineout on the Blair 5m line which they won and moved the ball a couple of times before scoring under the posts, converted.
Once again Blair had to re-group after a tough passage of play, Souter’s kick off was gathered by Black and after a couple phases a great bit of vision from Souter who kicked over the top, McLaren sped through and gathered to score the final try of the game.
FT 36-23
A tough game for the Blair squad who were all feeling it after a bruising encounter, but held on to win against a team who were determined to beat their higher leagued opponents. Tremendous effort from all involved on the day.
Squad:
Josh Key, Cammy Gray, Euan Constable, Andy McOuat, Regan Gordon, Neil MacRae, Fin Ormiston, Fraser Black, Stephen Souter, Rory Grant, Fraser Maxwell, Fraser Bissett, John McLaren, Murray Davidson, Russell Edwards, Al Guild, Tom Helyer, Michael Grant, Paul Douglas
1 point Josh Key, 2 Fraser Bissett, 3 (M.O.M) Fraser Black. Top Tackler Fraser Black
Training continues Tues and Thurs 7pm at JJ Coupar.
Next match away vs Grangemouth 24th Sept.