GHK 2nd 46 Glasgow Accies 2nd 5

This was the first time the Johnston sisters had made up the back row in its entirety and a splendid job they did as well. Fraser the eldest was team captain and, as expected, led by example. Sadly, in diving for a fifty / fifty ball in the second half he collided with one of the opposition and by the sounds of it has cracked some ribs. Being a Johnston and made of stern stuff no pain killers were taken and he resorted to the old forwards remedy of ten pints and if the ribs were still hurting he had cracked them. No wasting the nation’s money on NHS “X” rays.

Standards !!!!

There was a new addition to the front row in Josh Hamilton, a young lad just out of school. What a find this guy is; scrums really well and is strong in the loose. Indeed he turned over certain Accies ball at least three times. Well done Josh. One small criticism of Josh was when the Cappochi van chimes sounded, he just stopped and took up the pointer dog position carefully eying the van as it travelled along Anniesland Road. Take a note Champ to stop all ice cream vehicles going past the ground on Saturday afternoons.

Having counted fifteen GHK players on the pitch before the kick off, old slapper head Thow was somewhat surprised when the ref. indicated we only had fourteen on the park. After several attempts using fingers and toes the whistle blower was correct. Our hooker John Mill had taken the field with two left boots and had left to change into the correct one. Guess who was on the jugs after the match? The whistle hadn’t even been blown to start the game. Is this a record, jugs awarded before a ball has been kicked?

Hepburn at stand off got his backs going very quickly and having promised not to kick outside the twenty two soon had Big Scott Robertson crashing through and setting up scores. Tom Smith at centre, Neil Watson on the wing and Sandy “Cannonball” Kennedy at full back linked up superbly and some of the passing was unbelievable.

In the second half there were two major incidents, sadly, both involving the work experience touch judge…………………The Champ.
Now you have to know the psyche of the man from Banchory and how life revolves. Any young lad living in this Aberdeenshire town is taught at an early stage two important things in life - sheep and your wallet - count both of these every half hour without fail.
Now back to the game. Obviously there were no sheep in the story but, as is typical, the Champ had checked his wallet at three o’clock, then again at three thirty and just as Liam McDermit picked up the ball in his own twenty two, side stepped two Accie tackles, followed by a strong hand off he accelerated towards the try line. The big hand of Champ’s watch hit the hour. Up goes the flag to change hands in order to check the wallet and touch is given. Amid boos and screams of traitor, the Champ held firm. Now Liam is a well respected lawyer in the city and claimed he was nowhere near the touch line. Champ, he’s in the motor trade. Now who would you believe?
The second cause for concern for our new touch judge was when the Accies’s full back covered back and slid over his own try line with the ball. The Champ was up with play, the ref. was forty yards back but the Champ claimed it was not up to him to inform the official. Again more boos and shouts of disbelief from the crowd. It certainly is going to be a rigorous assessment for the Champ on Monday. Champ was delighted with the police escort after the game but was disappointed when he was advised the 1st xv. had been playing the police on the other pitch and they were just walking in.

Well done Jono Raby at scrum half, good service and is very speedy off the base of the scrum and he can kick conversions. Bothwick was excellent as were Robertson, Watson, Smith and McDermit. The two remaining Johnstons, fantastic.

Lenny Shambleton got on for twenty minutes during which time GHK scored twenty five points. Purely coincidence of course.

Final Score 46-5 win to GHK.

No game this week, all too emotional.


This article was originally posted on 23-Sep-2008, 07:29 by Colin Wilson.

This article was posted on 23-Sep-2008, 11:15 by Hugh Barrow.