Perthshire 60 Greenock 10: Super Shire produce 'best performance' to earn crucial league victory

The final whistle sounded, the sun was splitting the sky and Alan Clark was beaming with pride.

There was no doubt in the head coach’s voice that this was the best Perthshire performance in his time in charge.

Home players could perhaps have been excused for looking over their shoulder at potential relegation bother.

But a discipline and focus “not seen for years” set the Eagles on the correct path for success and a huge 60-10 win.

The stakes were high and a large support had ventured down to the North Inch on Saturday for the visit of Greenock Wanderers.

Local fans were soon celebrating on the sidelines and throughout an enthralling first half of running rugby.

Tries from Kyle MacKinnon, Jonny Armitt, Aidan Watson, Angus Walker and Dan Rae - three converted by Calum Bruce - had opened up a considerable lead.

There was, however, no intention of taking the foot off the gas and more of the same followed after the break.

Kieran Ramsay and Calum Chalmers both crossed the whitewash on two occasions, while skipper Mat Rae also managed to get in on the act. Two conversions were added from the boot of Watson.

This was a massively enjoyable afternoon and one that all but secures Shire’s spot in the national leagues for next season.

“I would go as far as saying that was the best performance I’ve seen from a Perthshire team since I’ve been in charge,” said delighted head coach Clark.

“It was fantastic and there are not enough superlatives you can throw at it. It was pretty impressive.

“The manner of the win was probably the most important thing. We have done a lot of work in training over the last three weeks after we got beat down at Greenock.

“A lot of work on mindset and culture, less about the actual skills. On Saturday, we