Depleted Eagles fall despite strong show Perthshire forced to travel south with a squad of just 15
Newton Stewart ...17 Perthshire .............. 3
Perthshire battled admirably against Newton Stewart on Saturday to narrowly lose despite only travelling with 15 players.
Three late call-offs left the Eagles facing an uphill battle but for large spells the men from the Fair City posed a serious threat.
The weather in Galloway was less than desirable with a fierce wind and heavy rain sweeping across the pitch. It was a day for the forwards.
Despite the depleted squad, which included Patrick Coupar, son of coach Mark Coupar, Shire remained determined to cause an upset.
They started brightly and piled pressure on the Newton Stewart line but couldn’t push over for the first score of the afternoon.
Playing into the conditions first half was always going to be tough and the hosts began to utilise the wind to send the ball far down field.
Close to the 15 minute mark Newton Stewart found themselves deep in Perth territory where, after neat handling, centre Fraser Morton found space to cross for a score. The wind took the conversion away. Perthshire head coach Alan Clark was proud of his players
A sterling defensive effort was repelling further home attacks as Dan Rae led by example in the centre with some crunching hits.
Shire’s lineout was solid with Kieran Ramsay finding his man in the toughest of conditions. And James Mair was causing all sorts of havoc to disrupt the ball whenever Newton Stewart threw in.
Similarly, in a direct response to last week’s problems, the scrum tightened up and was dominant going forward.
However, despite the quality of the set piece and aggression at the rucks, the Eagles couldn’t break through a resolute backline.
Having grown into the match Shire would have the wind at their backs for the second period - and were only trailing by five.
Coaches Alan Clark and Mark Coupar were unequivocal in their demands with more of the same the order.
Newton Stewart were struggling at the ruck and a penalty was won which was kicked over by Jonny Armitt to bring the score to 5-3.
Shortly afterwards another penalty was awarded and Duncan Clow stepped up for what looked a long shot.
His powerful kick was on target but did not quite have the distance, the ball falling agonisingly short of the posts.
The hosts sensed there needed to be a change and they added fresh legs to the action, which helped their cause.
After a period of sustained possession the stand-off David Gaw found some space on the outside to score but the conversion was again missed.
A calf injury then forced second-row Ewan MacKessack-Leitch - who had been hobbling for most of the second half - out of the acton.
Shire were down to 14 men but didn’t give up the fight as strong carries by Pete Saunders and Coupar made hard yards.
Ryan Miller was making his customary darting breaks and Shaun Barton was being released into space on the wing.
But the attacks never yielded a score with it proving to be close but not close enough.
Nearing the end of the 80 minutes Newton Stewart back row Allan Ferrie managed to batter himself up to the line and stretch to score a third.
It was converted to leave the scoreboard sitting at 17-3.
Action returns to the North Inch on Saturday where Caithness will make the trip down for an early kick-off at 12pm due to Six Nations games.
All supporters are welcome and encouraged to support the team.