Asgow Accies 10 Dumfries 20

Saturday 19th January 2008

New Anniesland

‘What Have Accies Got To Do To Win a Match’

When the main topic of conversation on the touchline is the performance of the referee you know it is going to be a disappointing afternoon.

To be fair this was an evenly contested match with both sides having their strengths. Accies dominated up front for most of the match and Dumfries were far sharper behind. The referee did not cost Accies the match and Dumfries deserved their victory as they were more streetwise and took their chances better.

For mid January the conditions were excellent with only a light southwesterly breeze to assist the side playing towards the clubhouse.

As has been their habit this season Accies conceded a try almost from the start. Dumfries won a lineout on Accies 10 metre line and ran the ball wide. Two rucks later they had spread-eagled Accies defence and with good handling created enough space for the winger to romp over in the corner for an unconverted try after two minutes of play.

This seemed to galvanise Accies and the forwards took the play to the Dumfries end where they controlled play for the next 20 minutes. The forwards were showing a huge improvement on recent games and the front five were clearly getting the better of their opposite numbers. During this period Accies were awarded two kickable penalties that were missed. With no recognisable kicker in the side they should perhaps have kicked to the corner. In the 25th minute Accies were awarded another penalty for a late tackle on Gareth Williams. Jamie Doig pushed it into the corner where Steve Begley clutched a perfect ball out of the air at the line out and the pack drove over with Andy Pogrel getting the touchdown.

This score seemed to spur Dumfries on and play was taken to near Accies line. At this stage controversy began. A handbags scrap occurred with both packs waving hands at each other. It resulted in Steve Begley being yellow carded apparently for being the last player to stop fighting. Accies defended the subsequent penalty and cleared their lines only for a crooked lineout throw to go unpunished. Dumfries quickly spread the play across the field stretching the Accies defence. A forward pass was allowed to go and the Dumfries centre cantered over at the post to bring the score to 5-12. At this stage the score was against the run of play.

The seven-man Accies pack simply gritted their teeth and drove the play to the Dumfries line. The visitors were then penalised three times for illegally killing the ball and their hooker was yellow carded. The writer felt that the wrong man had been picked as the no.7 had got away with this offence throughout the half.

At the next lineout Accies threw the ball in squint and the chance was lost.

The half ended on the Dumfries line with Begley waiting to return for the lineout when the referee blew the half time whistle. Such is Accies luck this season.

Half time Accies 5 Dumfries 12

The second half was an end-to-end affair for 20 minutes with neither side having a clear advantage.

The crucial score arrived on the hour mark. Dumfries were awarded a penalty that gave them a lineout position 6 or 7 metre from the line. They controlled the maul perfectly and eventually their flanker came round the blindside to find that it was undefended and scored in the corner. This was a well-executed try straight from the training pitch.

From this point to the end the match became frantic as both sides tried to get on top.

Sadly for Accies Dumfries were awarded a penalty in front of the post when Mike Hermes was adjudged to have been guilty of crossing. If ever there is a silly law in rugby this is it as it is so open to misinterpretation by referees. When it occurs in the opposition half by the attacking side there may be some justification but this was inside Accies 22 metre zone. A similar situation occurred a few minutes later when the Dumfries no 8 stood in the middle of the field with his hands up to allow his centre to run round him. It went unpunished.

Steve Begley had clearly upset the referee as on three occasions he was penalised for holding on and when he quite rightly questioned the referee on the dangerous practice of pulling down the maul he was penalised again. (It is doubtful if the referee will be on Steve’s Christmas card list this December.) Dumfries were guilty of this throughout the match. One of their players explained that they get one player to fall down to ensure that the ruck falls over him. In the past he would have been shoed out of the way but now you cannot take any action without being penalised.

With the prospect of losing the match without even a bonus point Accies threw everything at Dumfries in the last ten minutes. After along spell camped on the Dumfries line Scott Hazley eventually got enough space to dive over in the corner to reduce the deficit to 10-20.

In the remaining minutes Accies made too many basic errors to secure another score that would have given them the elusive point.

Dumfries were fairly pleased get four points from an evenly contested fixture.

The improvement in the Accies pack was noticeable and they will need to keep this going in the last four games if they are to avoid the dreaded drop.

The 2ndXV played well to get revenge over Dumfries with a hard fought 15-10 victory. There are players in this team, who with regular training, could easily aspire to a 1st XV place.

Next Saturday Accies play Grangemouth away from home and it is probably the most important match of the season so far. All players are asked to make sure that they are available and train on Tuesday and Thursday.

This article was posted on 21-Jan-2008, 10:32 by Hugh Barrow.