REPORT Emotional match at the North Inch

PERTHSHIRE ........................................ 20 BERWICK .............................................. 32

There was an intense and emotionally charged atmosphere surrounding the North Inch on Saturday.

Perthshire called on all members and former players to come down and pay their respects to Georgie Watson, known to all as Granny G, who sadly passed away on the Thursday night.

She has supported and served Perthshire for over three decades, along with her late husband Graham.

Georgie was known and loved by generations of players and it was great to see such a huge turnout on Saturday afternoon.

And there is no doubt that this inspired the current crop of Perthshire youngsters to put in what was arguably their best display of the season.

The opening 10 minutes saw Berwick in full attack mode as they settled down quicker and soon took the lead with a penalty.

Shire fought back strongly and Adam Dearden slotted a penalty to even the score, but the visitors responded quickly and raced upfield to dot down out wide.

End to end play followed with the Eagles’young and mobile front row in magnificent form, especially Kieran Ramsay who was found everywhere.

Any club losing a player of the calibre of Duncan Clow would struggle to replace him but James Mair at number eight is quickly establishing himself as a highly-rated replacement.

Andy Jack, meanwhile, was driving through the Berwick pack and from there the ball eventually found Jonny Armitt who sliced through from full back to send Shire into the lead.

There was an aggression from the North Inch pack, which has been missing all season. For the second week in a row, they were leading at half-time.

Berwick then came out of the blocks like raging bulls and scrum half Hardy ran straight through the midfield defence in the first minute to get back on the scoresheet. And only Sammy Isac’s brilliant last-ditch tackle prevented another try.

A penalty soon found touch and Berwick launched a drive from the lineout which was brilliantly halted.

But the try was only delayed as a scrum was won, allowing Melrose to escape from the Shire back row’s clutches to squeeze over.

The 15-8 lead was now turned into a 15–22 deficit but the big crowd egged their favourites on and Dearden spotted a gap and pressed the accelerator to race through for a try.

Berwick pressed again and, rather than take the simple option of clearing from their own line, Shire tried to pass their way out of the 22 but conceded a penalty which Webster converted.

With 10 minutes remaining, a lovely cross-field chip caught Perth players out and full-back Hill collected the ball to stride over for a bonus point.

As the minutes ticked by the Eagles camped on the Berwick line and attacked ferociously trying to score for the four-try bonus - and a losing bonus point as well.

But there was no way through and Shire were left pointless. Pride, however, has been restored and it is onwards and upwards from here on.

Committee members and players are hoping the large crowd have been persuaded to return on a regular basis.