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Hawick YM 50 Glasgow Accies 10
Mansefield Haugh
Saturday 16th October 2010
Hawick Too Strong for Young Accies Side
As soon as the fixture list for this year was released by the SRU it was anticipated that this would probably be the toughest match of the season and so it proved to be. Hawick RFC have abandoned their 2nd XV and all the players have flooded back to their respective junior clubs in the town. YM being the side that is highest in the leagues have benefited most. They were able to field four backs who have experienced Premier League rugby and it showed against a young and highly inexperienced Accies side who have been badly hit by injuries and call off’s due to business, maternity and holiday commitments. In fact Accies could have fielded another XV from the players that were unavailable.
YM were anticipating a really hard tussle, as they had not realised that Accies have lost all of their giant forwards from last year.
In the end it turned out to be an interesting match. First of all Ian Ramage, an international referee, refereed it and that made a difference, as he was not prepared to take any nonsense. Secondly Accies had a surprising amount of ball despite the score and thirdly they have found a second row forward in Chris McLennan, ex Glasgow Academy and the captain of Glasgow University two years ago. Finally. the scrummaging problems experienced last week had been resoled by David Calder returning to his normal position at loose head and Chris McAlpine being introduced at tight head.
In perfect weather conditions and on a good pitch Accies needed to get off to a good start and that did not happen. In the third minute YM missed a penalty kick at goal but a slack clearance allowed YM to run the ball back and their exceptionally quick fullback came into the line and fed the winger who simply swept through some ineffectual tackling to score a try that was converted. The Accies support were upset that a forward pass in the movement was not detected.
Accies bounced back and set up camp inside the YM 22 but solid defence stopped them from scoring. However the Accies forwards ably lead by Andy Jackson were giving as good as they got and had taken two YM lineouts. The area in which they performed least well was getting quickly enough to the breakdown where, too often, the Accies ball holder was isolated and either turned over or penalised for holding on.
As often happens in this sort of game the bounce of the ball goes against the weaker side and that was certainly true in this match. The next score was a classic example of that. Accies won a YM lineout inside YM 22 but the backs were lined up in a defensive formation anticipating that YM would win it. The ball came out awkwardly and was knocked on but it bounced into the arms of a YM player and seconds later Accies were 14-0 down with only 17 minutes played.
Again Accies responded well but all they got for a period of pressure was an Ali McLaren penalty. 14-3.
Five minutes later a silly kick by Accies gifted YM another 7 points. The inexperience was beginning to show at this stage. They had to hold onto possession as kicks simply gifted YM scoring opportunities. 21-7
With less than 10 minutes to go till half time the referee yellow carded the YM scrum half and Andy Jackson for a handbags at dawn incident. A quiet word in the ear would have been sufficient. The loss of Andy was a greater blow to Accies than the loss of the scrumhalf to YM as in the 35th minute they ran the ball down the side of the undefended scrum for a converted try 28-3.
Again Accies stepped up the pace and were extremely unlucky when a YM defender tried to clear from behind his own goals only to hit the back of the posts with the ball. In the scramble to get the touch down it fell into the arms of the YM winger and he conceded a 5-metre scrum.
Half Time YM 28 Accies 3
A score that did not reflect the amount of ball Accies had but showed that against a potent back division you must not kick away possession and you have to defend out wide. Too often Accies were sucked in leaving the wing exposed and YM took every opportunity to expose this weakness.
Again Accies started brightly enough but in the 55th minute, with Stewart Smith lying injured, a ball was knocked on and the YM fullback ran 65 metres to score.
35-3
5 minutes later the wide problem mentioned above was exposed and the fullback yet again cruised in for another try 40-3.
Same again in the 63rd minute 45 –3
By now Accies had lost Dan Spencer the left wing, Ali McLaren, stand off and Tom Cullen the hooker to injuries and the game reverted to uncontested scrums.
With a truly makeshift side, Jamie Doig at standoff, flanker Chris Wright on the left wing and prop Matt Franklin at hooker, Accies played their best rugby. Jamie Doig, one of the great fighters in the side when the chips are down started to dictate the terms and YM conceded a string of penalties to defend their line. However they couldn’t keep Jamie down. He surged up the left wing and found Chris Wright with his pass, Chris made more ground and found his namesake Craig with a deft overhead pass and the little winger ran round to score under the posts, Stephen O’Donnell converted for 45-10. A try that Accies deserved for all their efforts.
In the final minute another Accies attack broke down and the ball fell for YM. They kicked and chased it for 60 metres and the tiring Accies defence could not get back to defend it.
A heavy defeat, yes, but their were some positives. Chris McLellan was the man of the match. The front row played much better, the lineout was excellent with Kenny Beattie again prominent and Jamie Doig was a great example to the younger players in the side with his never say die attitude.
This is a very good Hawick YM side and they will win the league at a canter it was no disgrace to lose to them by this margin.
Next Saturday is the real crunch match when Kilmarnock are the visitors to New Anniesland. We need your support
Accies Team
1 Jamie Doig
1 Craig Wright
13 Stewart Smith
1 Douglas Laidlaw
1 Dan Spencer
1 Ali McLaren
09 Stephen O’Donnell
01 David Calder
02 Tom Cullen
03 Chris McAlpine
04 Adam Taylor
05 Chris McLellan
06 Claudio Urra
07 Andy Jackson
08 Kenneth Beattie
Replacements
1 Matt Franklin
2 Chris Wight
3 Oliver Ross
This article was posted on 17-Oct-2010, 09:26 by Hugh Barrow.
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