Perthshire Rugby Club lose away to Ardrossan

Oct 30 2009 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

Ardrossan 34

Perthshire 16

THIS game was played in atrocious conditions, with the final scoreline flattering the home side.

Coach Derek Busby arranged for the squad to stop at a service station for an hour and the boys amazed the visiting customers with a pre-match warm up in the car park, accompanied by Adam Pattinson playing tunes on his guitar.

Shire’s unorthodox pre-match preparations seemed to galvanise the players and Wayne Matson gave them the lead in the opening couple of minutes of the match with a well-taken penalty.

He followed this up with another a minute later although Ardrossan pulled one back before Dan Bowater sped clear and cleverly fed Erlend Oag and Shire had scored 13 points within the first 10 minutes.

The Shire forwards were completely outplaying their much bigger opponents and showed great skill and determination as they set about winning the possession which gave them the upper hand.

Ardrossan brought some of their big guns off the bench after 20 minutes but Shire continued to play well with the back row, and Craig Wallace especially, putting in some excellent hits.

Jimmy Whyte was an inspiration for the Eagles as they more than held their own against superior weight and, with Wayne Matson controlling where the game was being played with some superb long kicks down field.

The game was hugely entertaining despite the wind and rain.

Right on the stroke of half-time, Ardrossan won a penalty and they opted for a scrum 10 metres out so they could use their huge pack.

Shire’s defence could only hold out for so long though and Ardrossan’s ex-Super 14 player/coach powered over for a heart breaking try as the referee signalled for the end of the half.

Shire had led all through the game and went into the second period with a narrow 16-13 lead.

However, Ardrossan seemed to be getting all the penalties and drew level after 45 minutes and eventually edged into the lead a few minutes later with another penalty.

The much-criticised Shire defensive line-up confounded all the critics as the smaller team punched well above their weight and stopped most of Ardrossan’s attacks down Route One.

The match was still finely poised when, 13 minutes from the end, Andy Elder was harshly yellow carded and, playing with 14 men against this Ardrossan team who had won their last five league matches, things became difficult.

Ardrossan’s second try, which really finished Shire, came about when the referee missed a blatant offside by the Ardrossan No. 3 which allowed them to steal the ball and score.

They ran in another at the end of the game and admitted after the match that this young Shire team are a well coached, determined outfit who are improving all the time.

They will prove a difficult team to beat as the league moves into the second half of the season.

Shire’s players can take a lot of comfort from this performance against a team who are doing exceptionally well on and off the pitch – but the poor number of supporters doesn’t help the boys’ cause.

Shire entertain Glasgow side Cartha Queen’s Park tomorrow.

The match kicks-off at the earlier time of 2pm and the sponsors are Bannerman’s Decorators and Campbell Dallas.