Strathclyde Police 8 GHK 23

After all the dreadful weather recently we were very pleased that the good old Glasgow Polis did not let us down. Lochinch was cold, still and misty but perfectly playable if a bit gooey in places.
This was never likely to be a repeat of the romp at OA a few weeks ago and both teams started off at a good lick. Good tackling in the GHK centre from Chris Bruce put down a marker for the game and our defence was pretty tidy throughout.
First score came from Robbie Stewart converting a penalty after just 5 minutes.
Shortly after this Andy Fleming started what was to be a very good afternoon for him with a good burst into the line from a Chris Bruce pass after a nifty nicking of the ball from Gordy Reid and the rest of the pack. Andy went over for try no. 1. No conversion so 7 minutes gone
and 0 – 8.
The police full back decided he wanted in on the act so he made the first of several good breenges into the line and set up good position inside our half. A good cross field kick caught us napping and the police winger gathered and strolled over to make it 5 – 8.
Andy Fleming got back in the act with a lovely chip and chase gathering the ball and feeding Robbie Stewart. Robbie saw some space and put the ball down the wing for Rory Love to chase and score try number 2. Again no conversion 5 -13.
Right from the restart the police put us under pressure and, despite Disco’s best effort at a clearance kick, we needed a penalty clearance from Robbie to ease the pressure.
Another incursion from the increasingly irritating police no.15 gave good position and a resulting penalty kick from them made it 8 -13 at half time.

Second half and your wimpish scribe had repaired to the warmth of the clubhouse to follow proceedings from a position of comfort – old age and infirmity to blame.
We started the second half strongly but we were to suffer from not being able to hang on to loose ball and the police nos 7 and 8 were more than capable of taking advantage.
However, despite this we had enough possession to keep the pressure on and a raking touch find from Robbie put us into the opposition 22. From here, good interpassing in the centre gave Andy McTavish an opening out wide and, in his usual robust fashion, he powered over the line for the 3rd try. No conversion 8 – 18.
The police were not lying down, however, and their full back once again made a nuisance of himself making good ground into our 22. We managed to clear well back to halfway from the ensuing scrum.
Mike Aird made a good sniping blind side run but once again we failed to capitalise on loose ball and the police booted us back to our own half.
Some reorgnisation from coach Dunlop saw Greg Woolard and Young Thow replace Pete Broadbent and Andy Drummond.
By now it was pretty murky and the ball was soapy – so why did we insist on trying to keep passing the ball 20+ yards? Maybe I’m missing something but short and simple seemed to be the way ahead – but as before, “what do I know!”
The game was grinding along a bit by now – heavy pitch and murky, misty afternoon combining to keep the bonus point just out of reach.
The line out was still functioning pretty well with Darcy salmoning like a goodun and a steal here set up a break from Chris Bruce bringing us a penalty that allowed Robbie to get us down into the police 22. Didn’t come to anything though and we soon ended up back in our own 22.
Beers were beckoning when a good break from Robbie let him link up with Rory who raced into the police 22 and gave the scoring pass to Mike Borthwick – the last 10 yards to the line looked an awfully long way!
Full time 8 – 23.
Sighs of relief from the presidential entourage and off to the bar with bonus point secured.
This was probably the toughest game we’ve had and hats off to both teams for an enjoyable and hard fought encounter in difficult conditions.

The Veep

Team A. Fleming, A. McTavish, D. Whyte, C. Bruce, R. Love, R. Stewart, M. Aird, A. Forbes, G. Reid, S.Cameron, H. Parker, A. Drummond, P. Broadbent, S. Louden, M. Borthwick. Replacements C. McLay, G. Woolard, E. Thow

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