Perthshire’s long catalogue of woes

Aug 15 2008 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

Perthshire 0

Howe of Fife 26

SHIRE’S pre-season woes continued when they were outpaced and outplayed by Howe's youngsters fresh from their successful National Division 2 campaign.

The match was played in four twenty-minute sessions and apart from spells in the first and last session, Perthshire never looked like causing any problems to the lively Fifers.

The Eagles now have just two games left before their first league match away to Ellon and as these are against former Premier 1 side Dundee HSFP tomorrow and Heriots on Thursday week, the coaches will be desperate to see a chink of light in the performances.

There is no doubt that the loss of influential players such as Sam Kaleta, Lester Tapelu, Gavin Bloice and Pete Saunders, compounded by the absence of Garry Coull, Jimmy Whyte, Rob Mitchell, Ritchie Duncan, Ally Dall, Kyle Mitchell, Sandy Forsyth and Euan Lamont was a major blow and it proves again Shire do not have the strength in depth they would wish to have.

However, the coaches can only work with the resources they have at hand and they will use their next game to try and formulate the nucleus of their squad for the ensuing league campaign.

Howe of Fife arrived with a big squad of players and for once their supporters outnumbered those of Shire.

Most of their players have played together through their youth system for a number of years and despite losing some to the professional and Premier 1 ranks they have managed to retain the majority of their stars and look destined for Premier rugby next year.

Shire's backs looked sharp at times but for any back division to function well, they need quality ball delivered quickly when they want it.

The forwards did not dominate the game and as a result played more like individuals than a team.

Adam Pattinson proved himself the man of the match with his aggressive style of play and along with second row partner Callum Mackinnon the two of them wreaked havoc in the Howe ranks but lacked the support of many of their colleagues.

Keir Doe's defensive abilities saved a couple of certain tries and James Fleming made a magnificent cross field cover tackle to save a further.

But Shire were on the back foot too often to have any chance of winning the game.

Dundee High School FP travel to Perth tomorrow, kick off 3pm.

Everyone at Perthshire Rugby Club wishes club stalwart Bruce Mackinnon a speedy recovery from his recent illness and also a speedy recovery to Pete Saunders from the broken leg he sustained during his first game for Heriots last week.