A Good Day for Accies
Saturday 3rd October 2009
 
Accies made a good start to October by both the 1st XV and 2nd XV winning difficult away fixtures. The 1st XV travelled up the A9 to Canal Park Inverness to play second top of the league Highland and came away with a 17-11 victory from a game played in a howling gale. The 2nd XV travelled South of the City to Torrance House to play, second top of Reserve League West 2, East Kilbride. They retained their unbeaten record by winning 17-0 again in a strong wind and on a chronically narrow pitch.
 
1st XV
Thursday night at training was not a good experience for Accies as no fewer than four players declared that they were unfit to play. After a major reshuffle Accies had to travel to Inverness with only two replacements. So many of our young players are either on call or have to work on Saturday evenings that it is difficult to get off duty at short notice and they have to plan ahead for long distance away games. Fortunately there is only one long trip left and that is a week on Saturday to Stewartry.
There has been an influx of new talent and new players are arriving at training every week. This means that coaches Donald Reid and Chas Afuakwah have a much greater pool to select from than in previous seasons. They were able to introduce Dougie Horner, Sandy Fitzpatrick and Claudio Urra to the starting line up for the first time, all highly experienced players, and Stuart Goudie to the bench. Stuart is a multi talented back that can play in most positions.
Canal Park is not an easy place to play. It is usually heavy, slopes away from the Clubhouse and when Accies go there there always seems to be a strong wind. The hospitality is good and it is always a close game. Sadly the standard of refereeing in the North of Scotland leaves a lot to be desired and Saturday was no exception with both teams being baffled by many of the decisions. Accies probably came off worst having three tries denied in the first half.  The referee was probably the only person in Inverness that thought that the pass to Cruz from which he crossed the line was forward. Nevertheless Accies had the advantage of the wind in the first half and played pretty well to lead by 10-3 at halftime from a try by Steve Begley converted by Richard McKnight and a penalty also by Richard McKnight. Highland kicked a penalty close to the halftime interval.
Had Accies done enough with the wind against them in the second half? At the end the answer was yes thanks to a stout defensive effort that only leaked one long distance try and a late penalty. In between these scores Stewart Smith made a marvellous long distance intervention for the vital try and Richard McKnight converted with his best effort of the day. Accies were home by 17-11 to improve their league position by one place. The good news is that in the remainder of October they have three home games and only one away. Hopefully this is the time for them to make their challenge.
 
2nd XV
This correspondent watched the 2nd XV at East Kilbride and was very impressed. In difficult playing conditions they played very sensibly under the circumstances. The strength of this side lies in the backs and they like to run and handle scoring many of their tries from the deep by using Ross Chassels as an intruding full back and playing it wide to the wings. With the pitch being so narrow this tactic didn’t work too well, as they were crowded over the touchline before they could establish enough space to make the break. Sensibly they quickly realised this and changed tactics. First of all they tackled like dervishes throughout the game thus denying East Kilbride any opportunities to score tries and secondly they kicked superbly. Accies had two stand off’s available. Ben Wilkinson played in the first half and the Irishman, in his first game of the season, kicked highly effectively into the wind. He constantly kept the ball in front of his forwards. Even if it went into touch, as Accies line out with Robin Bryant and the fast improving young Kenny Beattie operating well, it was still to Accies advantage.
There was only one score in the first half and it came in the 10th minute. Ross Chassels broke free inside his own 22 and for once there was a bit of space. He took the ball across the halfway line and linked up with James Lindsay who found Robin Bryant backing up on his left and the big second row surged over for a score under the posts. Ben Wilkinson converted for 0-7
In the second half Carl Bates replaced Ben Wilkinson at stand off. The big Yorkshire man has a huge boot and he used it highly effectively. Time after time he set booming well-directed kicks into the East Kilbride 22 keeping them penned back close to the line. In fact, territorially, in the second half Accies dominated but still only managed one try. Midway through the half Accies won the ball from a 5-metre scrum on the left and the ball was seedily passed along the line to give winger Massi Marchetti enough room to squeeze over in the corner. Carl Bates converted from the touchline for a 14-0 lead.
In the closing 10 minutes Carl Bates made sure of the win with a colossal drop goal from 35 metres, not something that you see very often in 2ndXV rugby. With the exception of Robin Bryant and Alan Perrie this Accies pack is fairly young and inexperienced but they showed in this game that they can play with great spirit and give a 100% effort.
The 2nd XV have now won 5 out of 5 and are well on top of their league. They play good rugby and are well worth watching.
The good news is that there is a strong possibility of raising another side next week. Discussions are taking place with GHK and Hawks to raise a combined Anniesland XV. If there are any ex players interested in playing in this side or anybody thing of playing at either of the Annieslands make your self known or come down to training on Tuesday or Thursday this week.
Accies are at home to Waysiders /Drumpellier next Saturday at 3-00pm
 

This article was posted on 4-Oct-2009, 12:10 by Hugh Barrow.