GHK win Helensburgh 7s- report by Gordi Reid 



GHK's second 7s tournament of the season ended in success lifting the "cup" at the end of the day. Originally planning to take a squad of 9, a quick phone call was made to Andy Drummond who manfully stepped up to the plate and completed the GHK squad for the day. The journey was unadventurous however leaving Anniesland in sun and quickly hitting heavy rain dampened the spirits slightly however the weather held out at Ardencaple and the sun was out for the majority of the tournament.

The squad arrived and were drawn in a group of 3 with WUSA and Glasgow Uni Engineers. The top 2 would advance to the quarter finals, with 1st place being the target for the confident GHK side.

First up was the WUSA side, what this stands for noone knows. Drummond's attempt to solve this mystery was a good one although we were pretty sure "Institute" doesn't begin with W, U, S or A. Cheers for coming Drummond! Anyway...onto the game...GHK started fairly slowly but eventually got into their stride and after the 1st try went in they relaxed and scored 6 more on the way to a 42-0 win. Good start and some good rugby played in the 2nd half in particular.

WUSA then were comprehensively beaten by the Engineers, meaning both GHK and the Engineers were in the semis. The final group game between these sides would decide who would go through as group winners and avoid a very speedy looking Helensburgh outfit. GHK again played some excellent 7s rugby and went a couple of tries ahead. The Engineers pegged them back however with a good try wide out but this encouraged the Old Anniesland men further who went on to score 5 tries overall with the opposition limited to 2. Final score 31-10.

GHK won the group and next faced an Aberdeen Exiles side who only had 7 players and so tired fairly quickly. GHK struggled to get into their stride in the first half and were ahead by just a couple of tries at half time. A quick chat and the GHK team began to play some much better 7s and scored a few excellent tries. They went through to the semis 36-0.

Semi final time saw GHK face a youthful Isle of Mull side who had won their group and also taken the Dundee Medics apart in their quarter final. GHK came out firing and scored early on to lead however the Islanders drew level with an excellent individual run into the corner. This again stung GHK into action and they then took control of the game. A couple of slack defensive errors were the only blips in a 45-15 victory.

With 4 excellent victories behind them, GHK went into the final to face the hosts Helensburgh who had looked very good throughout and beaten a strong Greenock side in the semis. However the Anniesland team went in full of confidence and were keen to go one better than at the Hillhead tournament a fortnight ago.

Helensburgh kicked off the final playing with the breeze and immediately GHK put them under pressure. Indeed GHK took the lead out wide but moments later Helensburgh capitalised on some scrappy ball at the GHK scrum to go ahead 7-5. GHK scored 2 further unconverted tries in the first half to lead 15-7 at the break. Confidence was still high and GHK kicked off the second half looking to finish the match off. They totally dominated the second half playing some excellent rugby and ran in some great tries. Ball retention and commitment was top class and Helensburgh were not given a chance to play. Combined with 2 superb tap tackles by Hoffman and Cadger, GHK's fine attacking form earnt them victory in the final by 52-7.

Hugh Parker was again excellent running in tries supported ably by the pace of Ross McCall and Euan Cadger. Debutant Cammy Craig was also in superb form with some fine hits and great running angles. Robbie Shedden, Scott Cameron and Andy Drummond all performed well in the forwards, with Shedden and Drummond also contributing to the try count. Andy Shedden had couple of long run ins as well as turning over plenty ball as usual and Danny Hoffman was strong throughout playing every minute of every game. Gordi Reid's kicking in the final was also important in achieving the victory. The try scoring was spread throughout the team and only Scott Cameron failed to score - mainly as a result of a couple of forward passes. Unfortunately Greenock have not returned the trophy to Ardencaple so GHK were presented with a fine looking Gilbert water bottle as 2010 champions.

Thanks to all the players involved for another awesome effort...also thanks to the groupies - Amy, Duncan and the legendary Percy. Well done also to Charlie Dunlop who finally coached a team to victory at the Helensburgh 7s. Next week the final final weekend of the season with the Kilmarnock 7s where we are drawn against Hamilton in the first round again.


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This article was posted on 16-May-2010, 09:44 by Hugh Barrow.