Perthshire Eagles lose out to Morgan FP

Sep 18 2009 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

Morgan FP 14

Perthshire 13

AFTER the ecstasy of a last-minute winner against Musselburgh, Shire have now suffered the agony of a late loss to arch rivals Morgan.

The devastating blow came as Shire's forwards were penalised for handling the ball on the ground and, with a kicker of Graham Kiddie's calibre, this was sheer folly.

He duly punished them to sneak victory in a dour, hard-fought match.

Morgan had obviously been well briefed about Perthshire's backs and in the opening minutes their powerful No 8 Van Neikirk gathered the ball and headed straight for young Graeme Clow at stand-off.

The end result was that Clow was led from the field and were unable to take any further part in the game.

Wayne Matson took over and even though he hadn't played for six months, his first contribution was a thumping tackle on Van Neikirk which raised a huge cheer from the Shire supporters.

Matson then began to tease Morgan with massive tantalising kicks, keeping them pinned well inside their 22.

He kicked a penalty after 12 minutes as the Eagles enjoyed all the territory and possession.

Inspirational ball winner Anderson was the victim of a follow through after a tackle and he too had to leave the field with a very painful back injury, to be replaced by Dan Bowater playing his first game for Shire.

With Shire depleted and what was literally Morgan's first foray into Shire's half, they won a penalty, converted by Kiddie, which gave them heart for the second-half.

Matt Fay made a huge amount of ground with a good break but poor handling saw the ball knocked on near the line.

Even though conditions were perfect for open rugby, Morgan's aggressive forwards kept a tight grip on Shire's eight and precious little good ball was produced for the backs – and any they did have was not used to any great effect.

Morgan grabbed a soft try five minutes into the half when winger Hopkins ran past three half-hearted tackles to score in the corner.

However, a superb opportunist break by Gav Bloice left the defence standing and he galloped upfield for a fine try in the corner.

Morgan threw everything they had at Shire who defended superbly but once again a needless penalty allowed them to get a step closer as Kiddie accepted the conversion.

But Shire players persisted in kicking aimlessly up the field in the closing minutes, giving away possession and allowing Morgan to run the ball straight back.

And when one of the forwards gave away a penalty, there was no time left for any brave comeback and the players left the field disconsolately.

Although this defeat hurt badly, Shire can take some consolation out of this match.

Tomorrow's game will be equally as tough, if not tougher, as Hamilton visit Perth for a 3pm kick-off.

A FAIRLY strong Perthshire 2nd XV lost 55 -5 to a very strong Biggar side in their National Reserve League Division 2 game.

Shire's try scorer was Phil Johnston with a superb touch-down. Man of the match was once again James Knight.

Bob Ock needs his players to step up one more gear to compete in this league and tomorrow they also take on Hamilton at the North Inch.