High School of Glasgow 32 St Michaels University School 22

This game was the official opening of the Centennial celebrations for our host school. Gareth Rees, an old boy of SMUS was one of the guest of honours and was very impressed by what he saw, including the piping onto the field of both teams by Andrew MacArthur, Greg Woolard, Laura Sheard and Gillian Reoch, who played Highland Cathedral.

The game started with the High School defence not really at the races and two tries were conceded within the first 6 minutes to allow SMUS to go 12-0 up. Maybe the effects of a heavy physical confrontation in the previous game had something to do with it. However after 14 minutes High School got back into the game when Craig Bennie finished off an impressive team move. 7 minutes later, Andrew Melville scampered across the line to make it 12-10 to SMUS. At this stage High School were awarded a penalty in front of the posts, but opted to take a scrum. This proved to be a poor call and they lost the ball. With a number of missed tackles following the turnover this allowed the Canadians to extend their lead to 19-10. Just as it was looking as though they would take a 9 point lead into half time Andrew Melville again crossed the line and Craig Bennie converted to make it 19-17 to SMUS at the break.

SMUS increased their lead 8 minutes into the second half by kicking a penalty to make the score 22-17. This was to be the hosts final score of the game. The High School handling improved as did the defence and tries were scored by Craig Bennie, Jamie McIntyre and Andrew McConachie to give a final score of 32-22 to High School. Both teams had plenty of chances to score even more. SMUS struggled to get the final pass to go to hand where as High School wasted numerous overlaps, as try line fever struck.

The boys showed a lot of spirit to come through and win in the end, but they will look back on the large number of missed tackles in the first half and count themselves lucky that they never lost more points. With the line options cut due to Michael Borthwick's injury in the previous game it was pleasing to see that this aspect of the game was so successful with Ryan Carenduff, Andrew MacArthur and Dale Perry all winning their fair share of possession. Graeme Williams kept the tempo of the game upbeat with his quick penalties and was even interviewed by the local Canadian TV channel after the game. There are now two days of rest before the final game of the tour against Oak Bay on Friday. Tomorrow sees the tour party involved in various activities from snorkeling, whale watching, rock climbing, white water kayaking and sea kayaking. However, it has been rumoured that some staff will be away playing golf - life's tough sometimes!

High School of Glasgow 3 St Michaels University School 0

Later in the evening the girls carried on their winning ways without the pomp and circumstance of the opening ceremony. The pitch got the better of both teams in the first half which ended goaless. However in the second half constant High School pressure led to several penalty corners and attacks on the SMUS goal. Eventually the pressure told and Charlotte Sinclair netted twice before captain Kim Mackay killed the game with a well taken goal from a penalty corner. With the girls now becoming a little more confident of the surface they are playing on the can look forward to their next game against Lambrick Park on Thursday night.

This article was posted on 12-Apr-2006, 07:49 by Hugh Barrow.