Sport round-up
RUGBY
PERTHSHIRE .............................................5 HOWE OF FIFE .........................................99
The last home match of the season was one to forget for Perthshire.
It was a fixture against Howe of Fife rescheduled from mid- December when the big freeze had made ground unplayable across the country.
This time around, a series of recent injuries and unavailability due to the Easter holidays meant it was a mammoth task on behalf of the coaches to even put out a squad.
Calls went out and the likes of Rab Pittendreigh, Declan O’brien and Callum Coutts - who ran a marathon the day before - returned to pull on a 1XV jersey.
Colts player Ben Marshall stood up to make an impressive debut in senior rugby and there were 1XV debuts for Ross Alexander and Laurence Knight, the latter who rose to the occasion of producing a man-of-the-match performance.
Howe of Fife are on an upward trajectory and clearly were still on top form after felling runaway league leaders Gordonians last weekend.
Coming out of the blocks fast and with a ruthless instinct they rushed into a 0-54 lead at half-time.
Perthshire heads did not go down, however, with the team reshuffling after injuries to Jack High and then Aidan Watson.
In spells Shire could meet Howe and challenge them. Tackles from Dan Rae and Knight stopped the Cupar backline getting through while carries from Angus Walker and Mat Rae would make deep in-roads.
James Mair and Marshall seemed to cover all over the pitch in defence and attack, with Simon Mcgarry on hand to clear a ruck or jackal over a Howe player.
These individual flashes, though, failed to gain momentum with the visitors running in their 15th try as the final five minutes approached.
There was time left for Shire to steal a try as Lewis Murrie took short penalties as Howe infringed to get the ball right up to the try line.
The scrumhalf brought in his forwards as they inched ever closer. Eventually the power of Walker broke through the defensive wall as he stretched to touch down. For good measure, captain Mat Rae put his hands on the ball to make certain of the score.
The try was awarded, which was a small compensation for a chastening day on the North Inch.
There is a break this weekend for the firsts and then a journey to Whitecraigs on April 22 will conclude the league season.
This should be a much more competitive match and, in the previous fixture back in October, Shire lost by just two points. They will be aiming to avenge this and end the year on a high.
Player availability should be better too as head coach Alan Clark selects his final team before standing down.
SWIMMING
Perth City Swim Club members banked valuable racing experience at the British Championships held in Sheffield earlier this month.
Katherine Bailey, who now attends Queens University of Charlotte in America, travelled back home to take part in the high-profile event. And it proved very worthwhile.
She advanced to the 400m freestyle ‘Priority Paris’ final and finished third in a time of 4:23.05. There was no rest the following day with an appearance in the 1500m.
Evan Davidson, a Strathallan School student, reached the 200IM ‘Priority Paris’ final and then, the following day, produced a strong swim in the 200m freestyle Junior final.
Youngster Katherine Renfrew, meanwhile, sampled the atmosphere of a big race meet environment when taking to the water for the 200m backstroke heats.
Attention quickly turned to the Scottish National Age Group Championships at Aberdeen, which started on Wednesday and sees five days of individual events and relays. Perth City Swim Club has 31 swimmers in action.
MOTORSPORT
Perth motorbike talent Rory Skinner remained upbeat despite an early retirement in his latest Moto2 World Championship outing.
The former Perth High School needed to retire prematurely from the Argentina Grand Prix at Termas de Rio Hondo earlier this month due to a technical issue.
Skinner, who now competes with the American Racing team, had ended qualifying in 25th place - only 0.4s off Q2 and a second quicker than he managed on day one.
Making a steady start to the wet 14-lap race, he maintained 25th position before moving into 24th place on lap four.
But a technical issue on lap seven brought his race to an early end as he retired the bike.
The team was investigating the cause of the problem as they now look forward to their home round in Austin, Texas at the Circuit of the Americas. That will be round three of the championship and takes place this weekend.
Following round two, Skinner had said: “It was a good weekend apart from the retirement in the race which wasn’t great but it’s just one of those things that happens.
“I’m really happy with how Saturday went, to be 0.4 off of Q2, that was a good improvement for me in the dry and P10 in FP3 was nice – it was good in the mixed conditions to be there or thereabouts.”
Round one of the championship - the
DARTS
There was a high standard on show during the most recent Perthshire Darts Super Series event.
Held in Luncarty, Ross Macdougall, Kirsty Burns and Andy Shepherd were all winners on the day.
Ross won the men’s event, beating Brian Welsh 4-2 in the final. Beaten semifinalists were Scott Pirie and Kevin Baxter.
Kirsty won the women’s event, beating Karen Cruickshanks 3-0 in the final.
Beaten semi-finalists were Michelle Cruickshanks and Carrie Ann Northcott.
Andy won the consolation event, beating Daryl Stewart 2-1 in the final.
Beaten semi- finalists were Aarron Laidler and Graeme Low.
Congratulations were expressed to all three winners.
Organisers have said that the next event in the ongoing series will take place at The Nortel in Coupar Angus on Saturday, May 13. The entry fee is £5 per player and anyone registered to compete in any of Perthshire’s darts leagues is welcome to take part.
Doors open at 11am, with registration to be completed by noon. There will be separate men’s and women’s events, plus a consolation competition for those who lose their first round match.
Craig Mcfadden currently tops the men’s standing on 55 points, with Kirsty Burns top of the women’s table on 65.
SAILING
A bit more breeze was on the cards at Lairwell last weekend for Perth Sailing Club members.
Race officer Fiona Greig had set a longer course around the red navigation pole to make full use of the easterly breeze, sending participants four times round on Saturday’s first race, reduced to two for the second.
James Curley was dominant in both, chased by Ivan Kossko in his first appearance this year and Bob Watson a short distance behind.
Race two followed a similar pattern with the fleet joined by John Ferguson who managed to avoid all the marks but spent too much time falling over to threaten the others.
Once Sunday’s racing got going, it was Kossko who showed the way, leaving the others to fight over the lower places with no capsizing.
Results: Saturday race 1 - 1 Bear ( J Curley), 2 Laser (I Kossko), 3 Blue Meanie (B Watson). Race 2 - 1 Bear, 2 Laser , 3 Blue Meanie. Sunday race 1 - 1 Laser, 2 Blue Meanie, 3 Bare Away (J Ferguson). Race 2 - 1 Laser, 2 Bare Away, 3 Blue Meanie.