GHK 50 Cumnock 7

Rightly or wrongly, given our respective league positions, we expected a fairly easy encounter at Anniesland. However, Cumnock had not read the script and it was a long way into the first half before the touchline groupies had anything other than a sense of impending doom. In their outstanding young no.10 (16 years old I believe), Cumnock have unearthed a player of considerable talent who is surely destined to go far.
Things started reasonably for us with a good try coming in 3 minutes after a superp pick up from his toes by Robbie Stewart who passed on to Rory to put on the afterburners and scoot down the wing and on under the posts. Davy Whyte converted. 7 – 0.
2 minutes later, however, the Cumnock outside half intercepted mid way between their 22 and half way. He showed great pace and a couple of electrifying sidesteps saw him under the posts. 7 – 7.
This was definitely someone to keep the ball away from and patrol carefully.
It all got a bit messy now, but a great break from Mike Borthwick (putting in another storming performance) down the left and a well timed pass to Rory gave him room to score another. 12-7.
We went off on a kick-it-away-and-drop-it-if-at-all-possible spree for the next 20 minutes or so. When we got bored with that we tried an overrun-and-fire-bullet-passes-instead-of-scoring pattern. But sanity eventually prevailed and a bit of continuity of passing and running let Josh Mihill in for a try duly converted by Davy White. 37 minutes gone and 19-7.
A bit more of this more intelligent play saw a quick ball to Rory Love and again he tore off down the wing leaving several defenders clutching at thin air and his hat trick and the bonus point were secured.

Half time 26 – 7.

Right from the kick off our potential nemesis at no 10 showed that he needed to be put to the ground pronto. His quick hands and feet nearly opened us up several times.
The young Prince and Darcy were having a productive spell in the lineout but too often their good work was undone by others indiscipline and silly penalties.
It did not take too long for our first rate backs to sort themselves out again and after good quick hands to the left and back to the right, Davy got the chance to put Rory away for his fourth try. Davy managed an outstanding conversion from the touchline. 13 minutes gone and 33 – 7.
Gordy Reid produced a fine bit of play on retrieving the ball on the ground and we were unlucky not to add to the try tally but once again careless hands let us down.
Unfortunately Scott ‘Whippy’ Cameron damaged his shoulder and had to leave the field but his able replacement was Disco. Immediately into the fray, he nearly decapitated the Cumnock second row – quite legitimately I might add. That’ll teach him to get his head down in a tackle.
Next in the action was young Mike Aird (mind you they’re all young to this old git). Gun found a good line and injected some real pace from Mike’s sniping run down the blind side. The scoring pass was on the mark for a change and Fraser Clark interrupted Rory’s near monopoly of tries. 38 – 7.
The forwards decided to get in on the act next and a good charge forward from Disco set up a strong run from the backs that nearly put Fraser away for a second try. From the line out we burgled the ball and good harassing at the base of the ensuing ruck allowed Andy McTavish to power over for another try and another great conversion from Davy White. 45 – 7.
The final flurry came from good interpassing between The Hoff and Davy nearly getting Gun over in the corner. However, good quick hands from the breakdown let Josh Mihill give a scoring pass to Rory Love for his fifth try.
So the final score 50-7.
A good result but I reckon we butchered about 5 more real try opportunities with poor handling or needless, inaccurate kicking. We are unquestionably good enough but need to tidy up the basics.
Well done guys and I hope Whippy’s shoulder is not too bad.

The Veep

GHK Team
J Mihill, R Love, D Whyte, D Hoffman, J Shannon, R Stewart, M Aird, S Cameron, G Reid, C McLay, H Parker, E Thow, G Woolard, M Borthwick, A Drummond Replacements A Forbes, A McTavish, F Clark

This article was originally posted on 8-Mar-2009, 11:07 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 8-Mar-2009, 23:19.