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Match against Cambuslang RFC
Date: Saturday, 12th September 2009
Kick-off time: 1500 hours
Location: New Anniesland
Competition: SHE National League Division 2
Final score: Glasgow Accies 46 Cambuslang 14
“Accies Sizzle in the Sun”
The above headline is a bit of an exaggeration but it is true that they did play very well at times during the game. As one of the players said it was as patchy as an American quilt.
Before the match if you had offered Donald Reid the Director of Accies Rugby and Head Coach Chas Afuakwah a 7 try to 1, 46 point, bonus point win they would certainly have accepted it. At the end he felt that with a little less anxiety in the first half the score could have been much more. At the start Accies were nervous, not unsurprisingly, as they had lost the first two games of the season, albeit with a losing bonus point. They had to win this one to re-ignite their season.
This was a much more powerful Accies side with the return of Steve Begley, Graeme Simpson and Jack Walker in the pack and excellent debuts from Carl Bates at stand off and Brad Bell at full back, the latter being nominated as ‘man of the match’. Carl’s kicking from hand in the first half kept Cambuslang pinned in the own half for practically all the half. Brad is a good fielder of the high ball and he is highly dangerous when he runs out of defence into offence as he did several times during the game. With a game or two under their belts these players are likely to make a major contribution to Accies success this season.
The surprise was that it took Accies 20 minutes to create the first score. Up to that point they had dominated proceedings up front but could not break through the dogged Cambuslang defence. The conditions were perfect for running rugby, the sun shone, it was warm and the pitch was well nigh perfect and Accies were trying very hard but their anxiety to score was holding them back. They needed to stretch the opposition defence and use the pace and power on the outside to break the stranglehold. In the 22nd minute Stewart Smith did exactly that. From midfield he gave a long cut out pass to Craig Wright on the outside to leave the little winger enough room to run in from 22 metres to score in the right hand corner.
For the remainder of the half both sides struggled to convince the referee that what they were doing was legal as there were no fewer than 20 penalties in the half, that is one every two minutes thus breaking up the flow of the game and frustrating both players and spectators.
Accies seemed to be struggling with the link at the base of the scrum between the back row and the scrum half. In the 33rd minute it became abundantly clear what was intended. No.8 Graeme Simpson broke wide from the base of a set scrum and when he was far enough away from the opposition back row defence he fed scrum half Alan Wilson on his inside. Alan gave a beautiful little inside pop pass to flanker Adam Howie that opened up the cover like the parting of the Red Sea and he didn’t have to be asked to romp home under the posts. A well exercised training ground move that worked a treat, to the delight of the Accies support.
Now Accies knew the way to the line. Straight from the kick off the ball bounced nicely for Stewart Smith and the big centre ran 40 metres unopposed to score under the posts. Carl Bates converted both scores for Accies to lead 19-0. Carl stretched this to 22-0 with a penalty from 35 metres.
With the half time whistle looming the referee, wrongly penalised Accies for a truck and trailer offence. Steve Begley disagreed with him and was promptly given a yellow card.
To complete the half Cambuslang broke out of their own half for only the second time in the half and were promptly awarded a penalty that they converted for 22-3 and half time.
This late score seemed to inspire Cambuslang because they opened the second half with renewed vigour and put Accies under pressure. This period of torpor by Accies lasted 18 minutes in which Cambuslang scored 10 points from a penalty, try and conversion and Accies supporters with heart conditions were frantically searching for the little pills to put under their tongues.
Once Accies got through this difficult patch there was no stopping them. They handled and ran beautifully and scored four really good long distance tries. Dougie Horne was given a chance to demonstrate how dangerous he can be with his speed and power. He is a really good finisher and ended up with a hatrick in 20 minutes.
However the pick of the scores came from Brad Bell’s catch on the halfway line and powerful surge leaving defenders in his wake before linking up with his colleagues and John Fitzpatrick finished off the move by scoring close to the posts. The most spectacular score came from an outrageous 20 metre overhead flick of the ball by hooker Matteo Giovanazzi that found Dougie Horne in space. Richard McKnight converted 2 of the 4 tries.
With 10 minutes remaining Cambuslang kicked another penalty to bring their score up to 14.
This was a much better performance from Accies and demonstrated how powerful and quick their back division really is. There were flashes of this in the earlier games but in this game, at times, they clearly demonstrated that they could be in the mix for promotion at the end of the season.
Next week will be an altogether tougher assignment, as they have to travel to Thurso to play Caithness. This will be followed by a match against, the surprise team of the season so far, the unbeaten Greenock Wanderers at New Anniesland.
The 2nd XV also played Cambuslang and won 37-7 with a four try bonus point. They now head the league with the maximum 10 points under their belt
FINAL SCORE: Glasgow Accies 46 Cambuslang 14
Accies Squad:
15. Brad Bell
14. Craig Wright
13. Stewart Smith
12. Jamie Doig (Captain)
11. Dougie Horne
10. Carl Bates
09. Alan Wilson
01. David Calder
02. Matteo Giovanazzi
03. Fabi Marchetti
04. Steve Begley
05. Fraser Cameron
06. Adam Howie
07. Jack Walker
08. Graeme Simpson
Replacements:
16. Cruz Kakaweni
17. John Fitzpatrick
18. Richard McKnight
This article was posted on 13-Sep-2009, 08:04 by Hugh Barrow.
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