Bishopton 0-52 GHK


GHK’s penultimate game of the season was definitely the old cliché of a game of two halves. The first half saw a good GHK performance with the ability to score at will but the second lacked motivation and desire for a game already won at 40points to nil at the half.


GHK made the usual changes to the team, Olly Jones and Cammy Little returned to the back division with Stuart Hunter moving to the wing after the only ever present player this season, Andy McTavish, was unavailable due to work commitments. JP Higgins moved to the back row and a debut was handed to young Ewan Graydon in the second row.


It was Bishopton who started the better of the two teams with a series of kicks to the corner from the fly half but GHK’s defence held firm and scored with virtually their first touch of the ball when it was moved wide to Hunter who turned on the after burners to scorch home from his 22. Hunter scored again within the next few minutes after good forward play the ball was moved wide to Little who set Hunter away for his brace which was converted by Millan. The visiting pack were dominating Bishopton in the scrum with Ali Forbes and Ryan Welsh driving the home pack backwards at nearly every set piece which allowed Gordy Reid to steal a lot of ball against the head.


Stuart Pollock was next on the score sheet after another good break by the backs was won on the left and the ball moved across the pitch for Pollock to pick a lovely angle of Ali Smeaton’s shoulder to go over at the posts, Millan adding the extras. The game was becoming a bit of a walk in the park for the Old Anniesland men and more scores quickly followed with Ali Smeaton grabbing a try and Hunter completing a first half hat rick, Millan with the conversions. Olly Jones scored from first phase scrum on the left and an accurate pass from Millan allowed Jones to go over untouched, again Millan knocked over the points.


Half time saw the return to the front row of Ewan McDonald after a long period of inactivity. McDonald was one of the star performers earlier in the season and the team welcomed him back into hopefully a sustained period in the team. However with the game won, GHK were struggling for motivation in the second period and with the referee starting to even out the game in terms of some of his decisions the players were more interested in the evenings festivities rather than that what was happening on the field. Bishopton continued to kick every bit of ball they received which accompanied cries of ‘play some rugby’, mainly from the GHK players.


When GHK did decide to play they scored two second half tries with Rory Love getting a double, although he would have followed fellow wing Hunter with a hat-rick had he not dropped the ball over the line. The game finished in stale fashion with Bishopton’s forwards on the ascendancy but GHK’s defence held firm to achieve one of their goals of not allowing Bishopton to score.


No rugby for GHK until the rearranged Paisley fixture, which is the last game of the season. GHK’s rivals Marr looked to have sewn up the league title with a convincing 91-0 drubbing of Paisley on Saturday. All Marr have to do is defeat bottom placed Hillhead this Saturday to pick up the silverware.


GHK Team: Little, Love, Smeaton, Jones, Hunter, Millan, McFarlane, Forbes, Reid, Welsh, Ferguson, Graydon, Higgins, Broadbent, Pollock, Rand, Mcara, McDonald

GHK Man of the Match: Peter Broadbent

This article was posted on 28-Mar-2006, 09:22 by Hugh Barrow.