A break in the frost allowed everything to go ahead as planned, albeit there was more mud than grass.

The previous weeks had shown a growing belief that Carnoustie could beat anyone, and as it turned out this was well founded. First up were the boys from Panmure whose numbers were bolstered by the non-playing team.

As with most weeks it was the captain, M. Burgess and try machine Franco who came up with the points and Hay added the extras for a win which saw a superb tackling performance that prevented Panmure from scoring a point.

With the injured Baird looking on, Carnoustie met Montrose in the second game. The tackling from the first game was turned up a notch and the Montrose boys were continually knocked down behind the gain-line.



The pressure finally told with Howlett scoring his first try of the season after some good inter-play from the side of a ruck. Thoms built on his excellent defensive performance by adding his name to the scoresheet, quickly followed by the ever impressive Franco.

A deserved victory again, no points against and the defence was so good that the Montrose boys were prevented from having any possession in the Carnoustie half of the field.

Game three saw Carnoustie face Blairgowrie, the only team to have beaten them this season.

It was always going to be hard but the Carnoustie ball carriers were up for the challenge. Both Leslie and Tyrell carried well and some great offloading saw Franco score, with the free running Rennie touching down soon after. Again the opposition were prevented from adding a point to the score sheet.

With all to play for in the final game against the home team self-belief allowed them to run riot and score five tries, again with no answer. Lobban added his first of the day with the try tallies of M. Burgess and Rennie increasing as well.

Franco completed a feat of scoring in every game with a brace of his own and Hay added three conversions.

The faces on the touchline said it all. A pair of wins was excellent but to do it without conceding a point was something special.

Pool: Sean Baird, Ben Lyon, Connor Blackman, David Nail, Andrew Burgess, Ramsay McGowan, Matthew Burgess, Kieran Murray, Anthony Franco, Liam Rennie, Rory Hay, Kevin Rice, Kyle Howlett, Corey Thoms, James Leslie, Dylan Tyrell and Harry Lobban.

Montrose 9, Carnoustie 19.

WITH the Strathmore pitches too hard to play on, Montrose invited both teams to travel up the coast last weekend for an impromptu round-robin.

Carnoustie were first up against the home side and took charge of the game with aggressive first up tackling led, as usual, by Franco, M. Burgess and Thoms. With a couple of Carnoustie players making up their numbers in the spirit of the game, Montrose were not to be easily defeated and they showed this with an early score out wide.

However, tries from Franco and Blackman settled the Carnoustie lads down.

The strong running of both Franco and Rennie rewarded them with tries in the second half, with M. Burgess also getting in on the act. The wind made kicking a difficult exercise for Hay, although he was able to convert one of the tries.

Scorers: Franco (3), Blackman, Rennie and M. Burgess; conversion - Hay.

Carnoustie 14, Strathmore 10

The second game saw Carnoustie up against one of their toughest opponents this year in the Strathie Sharks.

With the temperature dropping it was again the opposition who scored first, provoking a backlash from the Carnoustie boys who marched straight back up the pitch with a try from M. Burgess, which Hay converted.

Once more the game was defined by tackles. A missed tackle meant a big gain in territory and with a fired up James Leslie on their side there was only going to be problems for the Strathie team. He powered over for try at the end of the first half and tied in several players to allow Connor his first try early in the second.

A couple of defensive lapses were pounced on by Strathie and they scored two excellent tries. However, the result was put beyond doubt by Blackman who stepped through the defence to score under the posts, with Rory adding the extra point.

All in all, it was a really good performance, and the teams at this age grade have shown great spirit this year with several of the Carnoustie boys going on in the third game to make up the numbers in the Montrose v Strathie game.

Scorers - Blackman (2), Leslie and M. Burgess; conversions - Hay (2).