Glasgow Accies 30 Stewartry 22

New Anniesland

27th September 2008


Accies stepped above Linlithgow with a hard fought win over a Stewartry side that would not lie down. They did however score four tries to their opponents one.

Once again Accies gave away an inordinate number of penalties (over 20) and although some were obvious it was hard to determine what the others were for unless they were technical offences such as bridging. Whatever the reason it meant that the game lacked the continuity that would have improved the watching pleasure of the spectators.

Accies played in bursts of frantic energy and periods of lethargy. When they were good they were very good, witness four tries. But when they took the foot off the pedal as they did in the third quarter they looked pretty pedestrian.

In the first 8 minutes Stewartry were well on top especially in the forwards. Accies were being pushed in the tight and had difficulty in securing enough ball to mount attacks.

In the 8th minute Stewartry slotted a penalty from in front to give them a 3-0 lead.

From the kick off Accies stormed into the Stewartry half assisted by three penalties in a row to even out the count. From the third one, new Daddy Richard McKnight levelled the score on the 15th minute.

Once again Stewartry were awarded a penalty for holding on. From this they increased the lead to 3-6.

For the next 10 minutes Accies continued to press and were rewarded with a try when Stewart Smith burst down the blind side from a ruck to dive over.

Richard McKnight converted from close to the touchline to open the gap to 10-6.

Again from the kick off Accies were penalised and John Muir their kicker made it look easy as he slotted his third kick to narrow the score to a single point at 10-9.

Once again a penalty award, this time to Accies, lead to a score. Richard McKnight kicked to the corner and Graeme Simpson drove over for what looked like a try but the referee said it had been held up. This only delayed a score by a few second as Accies won the subsequent scrum and were able to drive Jamie Corskery for an unconverted try.

Accies were now on the rampage and an excellent handling movement involving backs and forwards was concluded by Stewart Smith scoring his second try of the day. This brought the half to an end with Accies leading by 20-9.

Straight from the start of the second half Stewartry were awarded a couple of penalties and they converted the second one to narrow the score to 20-12.

A heavy drizzle that welcomed the second half and made the ball exceptionally greasy didn’t help the stop start nature of the game and there were handling errors from both sides.

12 minutes into the half Accies secured the, four try, bonus point. Ross Kennedy made a clever inside break from a 5-metre scrum but was held at the posts. Stewart Smith was at hand and he took the ball on to crash over for his third try that was converted by Richard McKnight for a 27-12 lead.


2.


At this stage Accies should have sealed the game once and for all. But this is the time they appeared to go into a deep slumber and paid the price. John Muir broke away from deep in his own half and kicked ahead. He had enough pace to outrun the defenders and scored close to the posts. He converted his own try.

Accies were now under severe pressure and were caught out again by another penalty that John Muir knocked over to bring his tally for the day to 22 points.

Now only 5 points behind Stewartry put everything into getting the score that would have given them an unlikely win but it was not to be. Accies regrouped and got their act together in the closing 15 minutes. First Ross Chassels and Mike Hermes burst out on a kick and run to the line. It looked as if Mike had got the touchdown but the ball had touched the deadball line and a five-metre scrum was awarded. From this Stewartry were penalised in front of their own posts and Richard McKnight made the game safe at 30-22 and denied Stewartry the losing bonus point that their determination deserved.

Accies now play Linlithgow away from home and will need to ensure that they cut down the penalty count. The lineout was a big improvement but too often the midfield got crowded out making it difficult to get the ball to the pace on the wings. This is a pity because this back division looks fairly potent and certainly gives little away defensively.

This article was posted on 27-Sep-2008, 21:37 by Hugh Barrow.