Match Report v Greenock

The League season is nearly upon us and what better way to complete our warm up games than by testing our mettle against a strong Greenock side from a couple of leagues above ,who have swept aside Dumfries and Accies over the last couple of weeks.
Supporters were out in decent numbers at OA, in sunny but blustery conditions with a strong wind blowing across the pitch towards Crow Road.
Disappointingly, a lack of players experienced in the "art" of the front row meant that scrums were uncontested from the off. Nevertheless the steady platform meant the ball could be taken on from the back of the scrum or moved out to the backs more quickly and there was plenty of physical contact in the rucks and mauls to ensure that both teams knew they were in a game.
GHK started brightly with first up tackling, strong running and good handling. Greenock were perhaps taken by surprise by the tenacity of the GHK tackling and excellent support in rucks and mauls with forwards and backs getting stuck in.
Having enjoyed the better of the first 15/20 mins but with nothing on the scoreboard a lovely break on 25 mins by Andy Fleming down the touchline deserved a score but Greenock scrambled across and the inside pass 10 metres out couldn't quite get to Andy Shedden.
It was inevitable that Greenock would get more in to the game and immediately following Andy's break in to Greenock's 22 GHK were caught off guard and Greenock broke out with some good interpassing and support taking them to the other end ,deep in to GHK's 22. A couple of missed tackles and a series of rucks left space on the right which the Greenock scrum half exploited to score in the corner. Try unconverted. Score 0-5.
A penalty on 30 mins should have allowed GHK to relieve pressure and turn defence in to attack but the kick went too long and scrum back for Greenock. We again failed to clear our lines with some poor handling in our own 22 and Greenock tackling and pressure forced us back over our own line. From the resultant scrum Greenock moved left and a simple scissors put the Greenock centre through to score between the posts. Try converted. Score 0-12 after 35 mins.
GHK didn't lie down. Some great tackling and rucking produced turnovers but despite a good first half performance,a couple of loose moments left us 0-12 at half time.
The practice match nature of the game provided the opportunity for a sprinkling of positional changes and subs to try out different combinations for the second half.
Gun took a breather,Flem moved from full back to 10,Merd from scrum half to outside centre,Shedden on at 9 ,Adam McLay on at 15, Andy Solarce to wing,Gerry Hawkes to back row and Andrew Tilston moved from back row to sub coach Liam McIntyre in the front row.
Lots of good effort in the second half but not quite firing as well as the first period. Greenock also upped their game. Both sides were finding it difficult in the wind with plenty of "not straights" and over throws in the lineouts.Thow did well to disrupt and steal a few Greenock throws at the front.
Pressure from Greenock gave them a scrum five in the right corner. Swift handling after a couple of breenges put their full back and winger free. It looked like some superb cover tackling had forced the winger in to touch at the corner but an excellent inside pass found the support player who was tackled in to the flag but did well to get the ball down for the score. A good conversion from out wide put the score to 0-19.
Both sides started making more errors with a string of knock-ons in loose play and falling off a few tackles. However both sides were also making chances. Greenock missed touch several times with the ball being well taken by Pete Ritchie on the left wing who made good ground each time. GHK kept pressing and won good ruck ball 15 metres out,moved the ball well through the hands to the left and Pete scored a well worked try in the corner. Unconverted. Final score 5-19.
All in all a good tussle with excellent team spirit ,lots of plus points and a few things to work on. Ideal preparation for our league campaign which gets underway with a home game v Marr next Saturday.

This article was posted on 23-Aug-2010, 18:45 by Hugh Barrow.