Perthshire Rugby Club defeat Irvine with stunning 35-0 victory

Nov 13 2009 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

Irvine 0

Perthshire 35

PERTHSHIRE haven't enjoyed the best of luck during their recent visits to Irvine and coach Derek Busby organised a pit stop at Whitecraigs Rugby Club to get the journey out of their system and allow the players to stretch their legs and talk tactics before the final 20-minute journey to Irvine.

This novel approach seemed to work as Shire handled Irvine's initial pressure and within four minutes Craig Assenti intercepted a loose pass and sprinted the length of the pitch to score the opening try, although he was forced to run wide for the touchdown in the corner.

Graeme Clow varied play with his passing, touch kicking and clever little angled chips for his centres to chase.

One of these yielded the first penalty which Matson duly converted.

Shire were winning penalties thanks to their forward drives and after Pattinson dislodged the ball from Irvine, it was moved out the backs where Matson scythed through a gap for an excellent score which he duly converted.

Irvine refused to lie down and camped on Shire's line but the Eagles’ tackles kept them at bay.

Dan Bowater stole one ball and made 50 metres down the field before being hauled down and the ball was scrambled into touch.

Shire moved the line-out ball wide only for Matson to be high tackled and he proceeded to kick the resulting penalty to give Shire a deserved 18-point lead.

Irvine took play to Shire and once again the fierce tackling from the Perth forwards kept them out.

But it was lock Duncan Clow who thought he had scored as he dived over in the corner but the referee judged he scored with a double movement and disallowed it.

Just after half-time, Matson showed again why he is Shire's number 1 kicker with a superb long-range penalty.

With both teams realising that Perthshire were likely to win this game, Shire concentrated on trying to go for the bonus point and as a result of this they became too anxious, spilling passes and taking wrong options in their attempts to force a score.

Wayne Matson sent a superb diagonal cross kick into the welcoming arms of Jack Steele and the young winger took off up his wing at a gallop before releasing Erlend Oag with a well-timed pass.

He needed no further encouragement to complete the score to put Shire within one try of a bonus point.

There was a lot of huffing and puffing while attempting to get the vital try and Steel and Keir Doe combined well but were stopped 10 metres out.

The lack of control and cohesion from Shire was disrupting their play but minutes from the end up stepped Dan Bowater and the big flanker outpaced the Irvine defence with a rollicking run as he streaked 25 metres for the all-important try, converted by Manson.

Tomorrow is a local derby against Howe of Fife, kicking-off at 2pm.

Shire hope to have captain Ali Anderson and the in-form Craig Wallace back for the game.

With these players coming back into contention and the appearance of Jack Steel and Keir Doe, no player can now be certain of their place in the starting line-up which ensures there is no complacency in the team.