Perthshire 5 – Hawick YM 38

At the end of the day it was a comfortable and deserved victory for YM but the outcome could have been different had the referee and Hawick touch judge not made 2 glaring errors at the start of the 2nd half. A superb score by Dane McGregor was disallowed when photo evidence clearly shows the flying winger being at least a yard in play when he ran up the line to score. In his defence though, the touch judge could well have been distracted by the leaves covering the line. 5 minutes later reuben elley broke clear and looked as though he had won the race for the line but the referee incredibly gave YM a drop out 22 claiming he didn’t reach the try line. Notwithstanding this , the YM were a much slicker outfit who had a distinct edge in the backs and their more mobile forwards covered the ground better than Shire and got the upper hand in the set pieces. Perthshire were forced into yet more changes in the backs as Keir Doe filled in at scrum half and Tom Pople was shuffled to full back. In the first couple of minutes YM pushed Shire clean off the ball at a scrum and the ball was moved sweetly out the backs where a 3 man overlap allowed Potts in for a score. Shire hit back again though as Garry Coull celebrated his return to the black and whites with some spectacular charges. Following several phases of play the ball was moved out wide and Gregor Brockbank dived over for Shire. YM hit back with a penalty attempt but hit the bar and Rory Kelso cleared the danger. This started a period of intense pressure by the Hawick boys as they tried to run the ball at every opportunity and their star player, John Coutts sliced cleanly through for a good try. It must be a worry for coach Andy Cummins that he has a huge pack yet they seem to struggle at times in the scrums against lighter opponents. Despite all the pressure, Hawick could not find a way through the Eagles defence and all they had to show for their efforts was a penalty from Weir. Shire were still in touching distance in the 2nd half with Rory Kelso, Garry Coull and reuben elley shining in the forwards. Unfortunately, YM were the fitter and faster side and following a lineout they grabbed their 3rd try when that man Coutts applied the acceleration to take him through the middle and under the posts. They camped on the home line for 15 minutes but Shire’s defence held firm. Elley made a magnificent 40 metre break supported by Rory Kelso and Ross Angus but a knock on ruined the chance. It was great to see some fire at last from Shire after a pretty dour display and the introduction of Dane McGregor transformed Shire’s play with his fast direct running. He has the confidence to accelerate into defending players forcing them into making a tackle whereas too often Shire’s attackers just accepted that they were going to be tackled making things much easier for the defenders. Garry Coull was almost through a couple of times and he and man of the match Rory Kelso really looked as though they were enjoying themselves. Elley was proving a real handful but Shire’s 3 or 4 good individual players were outnumbered by the YM’s eight who operated more as a unit rather than individuals. McGregor’s brilliance should have yielded the try which was disallowed and despite Shire’s spirited defence they couldn’t prevent Coutts going over for his 3rd try and Shire’s misery was completed by Douglas to give the YM a 38 – 5 victory.
Perthshire are still hanging on to their place out with the relegation zone but with the 2nd half of the season forthcoming and away fixtures against the teams below them to be faced, they must start earning points now starting with Lasswade on Saturday. Andy Cummins will be keeping an eye on the medical reports and some players must be nearly ready to return to support the campaign and Shire’s players were very appreciative of the large support who turned out on Saturday and they hope the crowd will continue to turn up despite the recent set backs. Stratstone Motors sponsor Saturday’s game at home against Lasswade, kick off 3pm.