Sat 24th March

New Anniesland





On a glorious sunny day Accies took on the league leaders in the last home tie of the season. As expected Falkirk opened the game with the early pressure through their powerful pack but were unable to find a way through a combination of Accies strong defence and a lack of cutting edge until after 20 minutes Falkirk’s Kiwi Scrum half Keith Henderson broke off the back of a scrum from 30 metres out and with good pace and judgement of the angles ran all the way to the try line for the first score of the day. 0 – 5.

This sparked Accies into life as they immediately strike back following the re-start. The ball is moved out to Jamie Doig who drove hard at the Falkirk centres, bouncing off three would be tacklers to feed Craig Wright who passed to Ali McLaren who scored in the corner and converted the try from out on the touchline. 7-5 to Accies.

Stung by this riposte Falkirk try to hit back but Accies weather the storm and indeed stretch their lead to 10- 5 following a further Ali McLaren penalty goal.

Again Falkirk try to hit back this time with some enterprising back play, set up by former Glasgow & Stirling County player Mark McKenzie but again can’t quite finish off their moves, in one instance knocking the ball on a mere 4 metres from Accies line. Falkirk’s strong pack win a penalty from the resulting scrum and speed of thought out does Accies as they spin the ball quickly left and, as Accies run out of defenders, Falkirk scored in the left hand corner .

10-10

The see-sawing motion of the game continued as Accies strike back again immediately through a second Ali McLaren penalty to regain the lead 13-10.

As half time was looming Falkirk’s Centre, McAllister, is Yellow Carded for an exceptionally late tackle on Ali McLaren. As if to even things up Accies flanker, Paul Allan is also Yellow Carded for what seemed to be his first offence of the game for not rolling away from the tackle. This gave Falkirk the clear upper hand in the pack and they went hunting for a try just on half time and they get it, again via their Kiwi scrum half. 13-15.



As the second half started, Falkirk were clearly aware that an open game would expose them in the backs and played “up the jumper” rugby however their enthusiasm for the dark arts was spotted as their prop was yellow carded for stamping soon after.

Accies backline came into the game and, while a little ponderous at times with their overrunning of the pass slowing down their progress, they eventually click and following a scrum the backline run a move with Mike Hermes intruding into the line and bursting through the centre of Falkirk’s defence to score a converted try under the posts. 20 – 15

Falkirk are not the league leaders for nothing and come straight back at Accies and score following a driving maul as their big second row dove over from 3 metres out. 20-20. This reporter doesn’t like to criticise referees as they are vital to the game but his decision to call an Accies, long over the top, lineout throw to be squint seemed to be extremely harsh as it gave Falkirk a great scoring opportunity from a scrum 5 metres out which the Falkirk second row delivered the try. Secondly, having been eagle eyed all day regarding infringements and yellow carding three players the referee chose an incredible moment to look the other way and not witness a punch from Falkirk’s Player /Coach Bob Wyllie on Accies scrum half Allan Wilson which pole axed the Accies player. If he had seen this then the Falkirk player would surely have been sent off and the game would have turned. As it was Falkirk regrouped and re-focussed on winning the game and as the game went into the last 15 minutes they took control and scored a further penalty and two late, converted tries to make the score line a flattering 20 – 37 to Falkirk.



For Accies it was a disappointing end as the game was much closer than the scoreline suggested with the two late tries flattering Falkirk, however Falkirk’s power and their Kiwi scrum half were the standout aspects of the game. For Accies, it was good to see Simon Cadwallader return to the pack following his American work experience and with Ali Mclaren kicking goals with regularity Accies were in the hunt until the two late scores from Falkirk.

The final fixture of the season takes place next week at Linlithgow and hopefully Accies can go out with a bang and then begin the process of regrouping and recruiting for next season.

This article was posted on 26-Mar-2007, 10:18 by Hugh Barrow.