Dunfermline vs Perthshire

In an evenly fought contest at McKane Park, Dunfermline came away with the points by the narrowest of margins. It was Perthshire that drew first blood in the 10th minute. Up until this point Perthshire had been pressing the home side but didn’t look like they would make the breakthrough until this point. Some poor Dunfermline tacking, again, allowed the Perthshire player to run in a try that their kicker was unable to convert, to give the visitors a 0-5 lead. Dunfermline continued to gift Perthshire scrums thorough basic handling errors, which allowed Perthshire to take the game to Dunfermline, but some resolute defending and good attacking play from the home side saw much of the play take place in the middle of the pitch. In the 20th minute, poor communication between Angus Thomson and Connor Simpkins saw Thomson pass back to Simpkins from a penalty rather than kick for touch and gain the subsequent line out. Simpkins knocked the ball on from Thomson’s pass and the ensuing Perthshire scrum agave the visitors the ideal platform from which to score their second unconverted try in the 23rd minute. Undeterred, Dunfermline took the game to Perthshire and scored their first try three minutes later in the 26th minute. From just outside the Perthshire 5 metre line, Connor Simpkins chipped over the defence and ran round to touch the ball down and subsequently convert his try to take the score back to 7-10. The try was hotly disputed by the visitors as they felt that they had grounded the ball before Simpkins, but the referee adjudged that there was no controlled downward pressure. Perthshire were awarded a yellow card for their robust protestations. The manner of the loss of 7 points spurred the visitors on and 5 minutes later in the 31st minute, Perthshire crossed the Dunfermline line for another unconverted try to take the score to 7-15. This only lasted for two minutes when Angus Thomson went over for Dunfermline’s second try. This time there were no protestations from the visitors as Thomson, who had dropped into the line, ran through a packed Perthshire 22 to score next to the posts. His try was duly converted by Connor Simpkins to take the home side to within 1 point of the visitors.
The second half continued in much the same vein as the first, with Perthshire scoring 10 minutes from the kick off. Unfortunately for the visitors, and luckily for the home side, this was yet another unconverted try to make the score 14-20. Dunfermline were to claw another one back 4 minutes later with a well worked try by Lliam Quarm. A break from Darroch McKeague saw him offload to Connor Simpkins who in turn offloaded to Quarm who ran in between the posts. The resulting conversion took some time as the referee had to speak to both captains, with the visiting captain making a lengthy protest about an incident in a fixture last season, and was eventually called back by his own side. Simpkins converted the easiest of kicks to take Dunfermline into a 21-20 lead. By now some tempers were starting to get a bit frayed on both sides and the visitors continued challenge any decisions they felt unjust, and comments from some of their supporters to Dunfermline players left a lot too be desired from adults. Back on the pitch, the game continued at a frenetic pace and was real end to end stuff which made it a great game, if somewhat nerve wracking for both sets of supporters, to watch. Perthshire were to take the lead again in the 59th minute when they went over for their final unconverted try, and took the score to 21-25. From then on, Perthshire tried to increase their lead while Dunfermline were looking to win it back again. It looked like the game was slipping away from the home side when in the 68th minute, Dunfermline were awarded a scrum as a result of a Perthshire knock on. Dunfermline duly won the scrum and the resulting passage play saw Lliam Quarm break out into a blistering run which resulted in him go over for his second, and Dunfermline’s 4th try. Unfortunately Connor Simpkins was unable to convert, but Quarm’s try took Dunfermline into a 26-25 lead. Two minutes later, the referee blew for full time with Perthshire camped on the Dunfermline 5 metre line. Again this brought vociferous protests from a Perthshire prop who used foul and abusive language when going to the changing rooms and to whom a stricter referee could have shown a red card.
Dunfermline got out of jail free with this one as the difference between the teams was Perthshire’s inability to convert any of their tries, while Simpkins’s conversion rate was 75%. The verbal indiscipline of some of the visiting players is not Dunfermline’s concern, but what is, was the performance of some of the Dunfermline player’s who must learn that there is no room in the team for violent conduct on the pitch, and that negative comments to other team members only serves to affect team morale. On the positive side, Gordon McLean continues to improve in the no 9 berth, the back row of Alex Foster, Angus Thomson and Lliam Quarm continues to be a very effective unit with some excellent plays and saw them scoring three of Dunfermline’s four tries. The team morale is good at present as the heads never went down at all, and the team were full of running up to the end which shows that continued use of the hill is paying dividends. Let’s hope that subsequent fixtures between these two sides continue to be as exciting and entertaining, but without any of the silly stuff from all concerned.
Next up for Dunfermline, Falkirk away.