GHK v Garnock RFC Saturday 26 January 2013 at Old Anniesland

Sunshine and rugby returned to Old Anniesland on Saturday with the visit of Garnock. When the teams met earlier in the league campaign GHK won a hard fought victory with the result in doubt right up to the final whistle. It looked as though more of the same would be on offer today as GHK did not see the ball from the Garnock kick off until about ninety seconds had elapsed whereupon Gregor Hollerin picked up from broken play just inside the GHK half and powered through the defence to open the scoring with a try wide right. Davie Reed was just short with the conversion. 5-0 to GHK.
Garnock’s reply was to take possession again from their own restart and put pressure on the home defence. An assault on the home line was repelled at the expense of a five metre scrum to the visitors. A timely strike against the head and a good clearing kick saw the danger cleared and GHK worked their way up field and further combinations between forwards and backs saw Gregor Hollerin again in the right place to cross for try number two. Davie Reed added the extras. 12-0 to GHK after thirteen minutes.

Garnock were certainly not lying down and continued to carry a threat to the home line. They were rewarded just after the quarter hour when their aggressive running breached the home defence and the support carried the ball on culminating with a deserved score on the GHK right. The conversion made the score 12-7. This good work was immediately undone as from the kick off the Garnock defence took just a little too much time and an attempted clearing kick was charged down by Mike Borthwick who gathered the ball to score close to the posts. This too was converted by Davie Reed. 19-7 to GHK.

GHK then enjoyed a very productive second quarter that saw them play some of their best rugby of the season. Forwards and back combined all over the park and fairly relentless phases of possession stretched the Garnock defence to breaking point. All fifteen GHK players on the field contributed in no small way but particularly prominent in the handling/off-loading/recycling process were Cammy McLay, Hugo Lough, Mike Aird and the centres McLay and Hoffman. It was however a real team effort. Their effforts were rewarded with three more tries from Mike Borthwick, Mike Aird and Callum Ruxton who was put in by virtue of some slick handling by Fraser Hastie. Davie Reed added the conversions on as required on each occasion and the half time score was 40-7. GHK already in bonus territory and the game looked like being safe.

The second half saw GHK unable to maintain the dominance of the second quarter. In fairness, Garnock raised their game and never really looked like a side that was thirty points plus worse than their opponents. The game flowed from end to end with, in fairness, Garnock maybe having the edge at this point. An assault on the GHK line culminated with yellow cards being issued to the Garnock blindside wing forward and our own Fraser Hastie being removed for the pitch for ten minutes. The scrap that had given rise to this saw GHK penalised and from the set play the visitors drove over to close the gap to 40-12 after fifty five minutes.

GHK managed to respond to the increased pressure from the visitors and after some good continuity and recycling of possession the ball ended up in the hands of Mike Borthwick who completed his hat trick by crossing for try number seven for the hosts. Davie Reed fell just short with the conversion. 45-12 to GHK with fifteen minutes to go. It was to the immense credit of Garnock that they continued to play good purposeful, structured rugby that challenged GHK throughout. In many ways it was fitting that the last act fell to Garnock as they finished off the eighty minutes with a fine team try wide on the GHK left and a stylish conversion brought proceedings to a close. 45-19 at full time.

Both sides deserve great credit for playing fast, supportive, running rugby. Ten tries confirms that it was a great game for the spectators (and I suspect the players too). It seems clear that both squads had been working on their fitness in the weather affected break and the intensity and pace at which the game was played would bear testament to that. From a home point of view this was a very encouraging performance seeing off the challenge of a very capable and effective Garnock side and giving great encouragement for the remainder of the season.

This article was originally posted on 29-Jan-2013, 08:15 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 29-Jan-2013, 09:13.