Bishopton earned the local bragging rights after beating Paisley on their own patch to lift the Renfrewshire Cup.
Paisley were hosting a special afternoon for sponsors and former players at the Anchor that coincided with club stalwart Michael Somerville’s last outing for the club.
With Covid-19 putting a stop to the Renfrewshire Cup clash at the start of the season, it was time to reignite the rivalry and Paisley started on the front foot - keeping Bish in their own half for the opening quarter of the match.
But the hosts started to falter and gave away a series of penalties that allowed the visitors to clear their lines.
A long-range penalty effort from the boot of Carl Bates gave Bishopton an ideal opportunity for a line-out on the Paisley five metre line.
With the ball secured prop Ali Doak managed to get on the end of the maul and crash down to open the scoring.
The try went unconverted, but Bishopton took advantage of their first score and doubled down soon after as Cameron Hunter was able to breakaway up the wing.
After some intricate passing between Sandy Glassford and Ruaridh Taylor, a penalty advantage soon came.
This resulted in yet another line-out, this time with Alex Neil claiming the ball and thundering over in the maul to stretch Bishopton’s lead to 0-10.
The best try of the day came just before half-time with Ross McGowan performing a dazzling interception as Paisley looked to get further over the Bish 10m line, with the scrum half looking to pass the ball out to the backs.
McGowan pounced as the number nine took just too long to secure a target in the Paisley ranks, allowing McGowan to pick the pass off. He was soon caught but was able to get the ball to Richardson, who went the full length of the Paisley half before getting the ball down under the posts.
The ball was kicked over by Carl Bates to give the visiting side a healthy 0-17 advantage at the break.
Paisley looked the sharper of the two teams at the start of the second half, as they came out all guns blazing and were able to take advantage of an overconfident Bishopton. They broke down the right wing and were able to get the score in and convert to start to claw the game back.
The second half became a battleground as neither team were looking to let the other cross the try lines again.
With the game increasingly staged between the two 22-metre lines, Bish were awarded two penalties in the second half.
The first sailed wide of the post from 40 metres, but the second at half the distance was secured.
That concluded the scoring, with Bish getting their hands on the Renfrewshire Cup once again.
Bishopton’s next game is this Saturday, as they welcome Hyndland to Holmpark. Paisley are without a fixture.
On Sunday the Renfrewshire Raiders, a combination of young players from both Bishopton and Paisley, will be playing in the National Bowl Final against Dalziel RFC at 2pm.
