Portobello claim BT Bowl glory

Portobello were crowned BT Bowl champions this afternoon at BT Murrayfield beating Blairgowrie 33-23 in an action packed game from start to finish.Portobello winger Alasdair Bain put in a Man of the Match performance, scoring three excellent tries at crucial periods of the game allowing Portobello to withstand a potential Blairgowrie come back at the start of the second half and come out on top.  Speaking after the game, Portobello captain Chris Britee-Steer said: “We started fairly strong and they came back at us. They came out firing in the second half which gave us a bit of a shock but we stuck to our game plan and recollected ourselves.”RUN OF PLAYPortobello started the game brightly and dominated both possession and territory early on. The early pressure paid off – quick hands from the centres in midfield allowed Alasdair Bain to run in and score his side’s first points of the day under the posts. Britee-Steer successfully added the extras (0-7).Blairgowrie found their feet in the game after a shaky opening ten minutes. A charged down Portobello clearance gave them a lineout five metres from the line. Some fine juggling skills in the lineout allowed for a successful pick and drive resulting in Euan Constable going over the line to get the north Perthshire club on the scoreboard. Conversion missed (5-7).But Portobello hit back straight away. The ball was won at the restart and fired out wide to Bain who danced past a couple of men to score his second try of the match (5-12).Portobello continued to apply the pressure on the Blairgowrie defence as the half wore on. Some excellent scramble defence prolonged Portobello from scoring quickly again. The coastal club were patient however and turned the ball through the phases before a clever offload in the tackle allowed prop Donald Burn to power over the line on the half hour mark. Conversion missed (5-17).In the final five minutes of the half Blairgowrie did well to keep themselves in the tie. A penalty scored by Stephen Souter narrowed Portobello’s lead to 9 points and a yellow card to Portobello back row Gabriel Harvey just before the break kept the contest firmly in the balance going into the second half.HALF TIME | Blairgowrie 8 – 17 PortobelloBlairgowrie came out in the second half and made the extra man count. Finlay Ormiston touched down under the posts and Stephen Souter added the extras to take his side to within two points of Portobello (15-17).But a yellow card to Blairgowrie captain Andrew McOuat saw the momentum shift back in Portobello’s favour.Blairgowrie struggled to deal with being a man light in the scrum and Portobello number 8 Graham Culbertson capitalised scoring in the corner (15-22).With 20 minutes to play both sides began to reel the changes from the subs bench. Portobello continued to dominate possession and territory with Britee-Steer’s boot keeping the scoreboard ticking over nicely in Portobello’s favour.Quick hands from Hamish Munro allowed Bain to complete his hat trick – dotting down in the corner and tightening Portobello’s grip on the trophy (15-30)A couple of penalties from either side cancelled each other out before Blairgowrie added a deserved consolation try in the final play of the game.FULL TIME | Blairgowrie 23-33 PortobelloBlairgowrie: Stephen Souter, Rory Grant, Fraser Maxwell, Fraser Bissett, John McLaren, Murray Davidson, Russell Edwards, Peter Duncan, David Malloch, Euan Constable, Mark Reddin, Neil MacRae, Andrew McOuat (CAPTAIN), Finlay Ormiston, Fraser Black Replacements: Paul Douglas, Craig Thoms, David Grieve, Matthew Michie, Regan Gordon, Alan Walsh, Michael Grant.Portobello: Luke Chan, Cameron Johnston, Mitchell Walker, Hamish Munro, Alasdair Bain, Chris Britee-Steer (CAPTAIN), Fraser Mackay, Euan Gibson, Danny Sanchez, Donald Burn, Darren Roe, Cameron Walker, Murray Boyter, Graham Culberston, Gabriel Harvey Replacements: Max Moran, Michael Ridd, Sean Kneeshaw, Will Murray, Eddie Robb, Robbie Stewart, Keith Jeffrey.