U19s took the field with fighting spirit

Apr 9 2009 Blairgowrie Advertiser

Blairgowrie U19 31

Achmitty U19 24

ONE of the first U19 games in Blairgowrie's history was a very hard fought match with a team from Fife.

Blairgowrie opened the scoring with Mike Grant opening up the defence scoring under the posts, John Cockburn converting.

John Neil was next on the score sheet before Achmitty hit back with one of their own leaving the score 12-7 at half-time.

Early in the second half the Blairgowrie No. 8 Liam McLaren went off with a shoulder injury to be replaced by Ewan Constable who was outstanding, making powerful runs.

The centre pairing of Mike Black and Mike Grant were solid throughout.

The next score for Blairgowrie was Steven Grant who broke four tackles to score on the corner. Mike Grant, Steven's brother, who scored again.

Achmitty came back with two scores to make a game, only to see Steven Grant to score his second after some very good pressure from the Blairgowrie forwards.

Ben McDonald was named man of this match for an excellent debut at flanker.

Blairgowrie U19 – M. Black, E. Constable, S. Lynsey, F. Grey, C. Boag, A. Stirling, B. McDonald, J. Cockburn, J. Neil, M. Grant, S. Simpson, C. Thom, L. McLaren, C. Bruce, J. Lynn, C. Boylan.

Blairgowrie Rams U17 24

Falkirk U17 17

ON Sunday (March 29) Blairgowrie Rams travelled to Falkirk with a strong team of U17 players.

The team was nearly full strength and started strongly with Roy Edger scoring his first try for Blairgowrie, converted by Jonathan Coe.

Falkirk hit back with one of their own after some great forward pressure.

With Finlay Grey leading the way, Connar Boylan scored in the corner, followed by another from Falkirk to make the half- time score Blairgowrie 12, Falkirk 10.

In the second half, Blairgowrie played into the wind and delivered one of their best performances of the season, the link play between forwards and back was excellent.

Tom Rattray, having a blinder at scrum half, was involved in everything, as was John Neil, Ryan Lynn, and Connar Boylan.

David Thom scored twice in the second half with Falkirk doing the same.

With two minutes to go the Blairgowrie No. 8 picked up and the forwards drove him over for the final score.

Finlay Grey was man of the match.

Blairgowrie U17 – A. Stirling, F. Grey, S. Lynsey, B. McDonald, V. Morrfin, R. Edger, R. Lynn, J. Coe, D. Thom, S. Simpson, A. Marshal, C. Bruce, C. Boylan, J. Rattray, J. Neil.