A farcical start to the day occurred when Nick Cram and Stu Pollock arrived
at 1215, 15 minutes prior to the official meeting time suggested by director
of rugby Inglis, only to be told that GHK's opening match was supposed to
kick off at 11am...cheers Scotty!!!

Even so, by 1230 the squad stood at a mighty 4, including Jamie MacKinnon
who was not an original member but bravely stepped up to the plate to join
in the fun. After a number of negotiations, the twice postponed match was
postponed once more to allow the remainder of the team to arrive.
Eventually 7 of the original 8 were there...the final member calling at
quarter past 2 as he had "just woken up" and so decided against travelling
from Lanark.

So onto the action with 8 players. GHK retained the plate competition which
they have won for the last 2 years - purely because there was no longer a
plate tournament! But success anyway! The forecast rain never appeared and
the now customary uni 7s' blazing sunshine remained at Garscube all day - an
issue for the ginger contingent who left with varying degrees of sunburn.

The competition was split into 2 pools of 6 meaning a guaranteed 5
games...morale was already diminishing amongst the larger built members of
the team! Game 1 v Glasgow Uni was a rusty performance, matched only by
some bizarre refereeing from our own Nessa. But a narrow win nonetheless.
Danny Hoffman and Steve Biggart helping us out with a half each. Game 2
against Biggarts Glasgow Uni Medics - a somewhat more comfotable win, things
going well. Game 3 was against the Elbow Benders from Edinburgh which
proved to be very tough and the east coasters came away with the victory.
Game 4 was the now crucial one against the pool favourites and already
qualified Strathaliens featuring Hoffman and ex GHK player Olly Scott.
Victory would ensure a semi final spot as the medics shocked the edinburgh
side. Confidence wasn't at its highest to begin but an excellent
performance saw GHK come out with victory. Game 5 was against the whipping
boys, Fraz MacKinven's Law Blacks. This was now all about points difference
to see who would top the group. Strathaliens set the target of 39, a feat
that was going to be tough given a slender 14-12 half time lead. GHK
eventually eased to victory but were well short of the required 39 point
margin resulting in a daunting encounter in the semis against the
overwhelming favourites - Mike Adamson's Ringer Select VII aka "Im Your
Daddy".

By this stage injuries and fatigue were all too aware with Jamie MacKinnon
and Liam McDermid dropping out as well as Hoffman and Biggart being too
tired, and to be fair, Danny was still in the tournament. But Nessa had
joined up now and so GHK had 7 players who were starting and finishing the
semi...

All started all well and some fantastic keep ball passing early doors opened
up the space for Mark Oatey to coast clear one-on-one with Adamson, swerving
brilliantly to go under the posts. 7-0 to GHK. The rest does not
particularly need to dwelt upon...we lost. They went on to defeat
Strathaliens (who had recruited Gordi Reid and Oatey - who replicated his
try scoring feat against Adamson) by 4 tries to 2 ish. Bodies and minds
were too exhausted to count by this stage!

A massive thanks to the boys who turned out. Great credit too as a semi
final place with a make shift squad is a terrific achievement.

The offical squad:

Jamie MacKinnon
Nick Cram (who scored a couple of belters)
Stu Pollock
Gordi Reid
Russell Johnstone
Mark Oatey
Liam McDermid
Ewan McDonald

Also thanks to Nessa, Danny and Steve.

And so the season is over...well not quite.

GHK club dinner this Friday night!!!

This article was posted on 13-May-2006, 23:20 by Hugh Barrow.