Waid too strong for Perthshire this time

PERTHSHIRE 2XV ............................... 19 WAID ACADEMY FP ............................ 44

Spring sunshine drenched the North Inch and Perthshire made sure to start this fixture brightly.

But Waid Academy crashed over for the opening score after their big carriers claimed generous territory.

The same pattern soon followed with the visitors making easy yards following weak tackling.

Scott Tarrant did put in a magnificent cover tackle after a clean break, getting his man down, but the support was there and the offload resulted in a second try.

Unfortunately, having put his all into the tackle, Tarrant’s arm took the full force and suffered a nasty fracture.

The benefits of training together began to show as the men in black and white hit back after some good phase play.

Awarded a scrum, the pack surged forward and scrumhalf Jack McIntosh, a live wire all day, spotted the opportunity to take from the base, dummy and back himself to the line for a try converted by Rab Pittendreigh.

There was, however, time for Waid to score once more before the opening period was over.

With some rejigging in the squad, Shire were caught off guard and Waid ran in two quick tries.

But the set piece dominance really started to shine through.

In the scrums, Cameron McGougan and Stevie Wilkie were solid providing more quality ball for McIntosh.

Meanwhile, Kieran MacLean and Ewan MacKessack-Leitch were in complete control of the lineout.

When Waid were later penalised for offside, McIntosh took the tap quickly sending the forwards on their bikes.

After a series of interlinking passes and offloads, Callum Coutts crossed the line to pull one back for Shire.

The hosts attacked again but the visiting defence was proving strong.

On the turnover, determined cover tackles from David Hutchison and Rabson Chipakupaku brought down their opposite man but the quick ruck and offloads surged Waid over the line.

Going into the final period, Shire knew two more tries would earn the bonus point - and the chance to win it.

Debutants Mika Gratzke, Ryan Beaton and David Donovan were on the pitch and made their presence known, tackling and barging through Waid in close quarters.

As they did all match, Arran Sheach, Simon McGarry and Coutts were winning numerous ruck penalties.

But converting pressure into points was difficult.

Later, multiple ruck and offside penalties built up as Shire reached the five metre line.

Club captain, MacKessack-Leitch, took it quickly and squeezed under the defender to score with about seven minutes remaining. Pittendreigh made the conversion.

One more would earn the bonus point but, despite good efforts, especially powerful runs by Donovan, it never arrived.

Waid, instead, managed a score in the closing stages.