Eagles swoop but soon lose control

Oct 24 2008 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

Dunfermline 31

Perthshire 24

PERTHSHIRE produced more rugby in the first 10 minutes of this exciting match than they have done in the entire season to date.

Faced with numerous changes due to injuries once again, the Eagles – who were chosen to represent the 1st XV – played their hearts out against a strong Dunfermline outfit fighting for promotion.

Shire's smaller but much more mobile pack shocked their big rivals and fought for every loose ball and the game had barely started when they produced good ball to allow Fleming off on the rampage.

He was hauled down short of the line but Matt Smith was on hand to shock the home side with a superb try with two minutes played.

Minutes later, a superb line-out take by Moffat set the backs off and Assenti split the line at the perfect angle running at full pace to score try number two.

Mitchell converted both to give Shire a commanding 14–0 lead. However, Dunfermline's big forwards rumbled their way to two quick tries but Shire went into half-time with a 14-10 advantage.

Dunfermline knew that their only hope of victory lay in grinding down Shire's forwards and keeping the ball away from their backs.

They eventually took the lead when they barged over for another try following a line-out close to the Shire line.

Fleming again sparked Shire to life, making 50 metres, and the forwards were up in quick support to allow Elder to whisk the ball wide for Knox to gallop in at the corner and Shire were back in the lead.

The Shire forwards cleverly kept Dunfermline running around the park and were much more alert when hunting loose ball which gave them more possession than they have had for weeks.

Smith took advantage of good, quick ball and raced clear only to be tackled short of the line. But as the Shire support was on hand much faster than Dunfermline, the home team conceded a penalty by preventing release of the ball.

But the normally reliable Rob Mitchell just failed with the kick.

Shire continued to press but a loose pass gifted the ball to Dunfermline and they raced away to regain the lead.

The last 10 minutes were frantic as both teams tried everything to claim the next score and when Fleming bobbed and weaved away again the Shire supporters were screaming encouragement only to see him flattened inches short of the try line.

On the 80 minute mark, Shire thought they had received their just awards when the flying Assenti once again left the opposition for dead and raced under the posts to equal the scores.

All the pressure was on Rob Mitchell, for what everyone thought would be the last move of the game, to kick the two points which would give a huge boost to Shire and win the match.

Unfortunately the kick was pulled just wide and Shire looked as though they would have to settle for a draw.

The referee judged there was time for a kick-off again and a bad pass saw the ball bounce off Neil Drummond's shoulder straight into the arms of Dunfermline's scrum-half who was gifted a try under the posts to destroy the hearts of every Shire player.

This huge improvement can be maintained if not bettered and an exciting match against Garnock should take place at the Inch tomorrow, kick-off 3pm.