Newton Stewart 34 Glasgow Accies 21
Bladnoch Park
20th November 2010
 
Travelling back on the coach from Newton Stewart having witnessed the most dire performance from an Accies pack for many a year I cast my mind back to the last Saturday in August when we beat the same side by 55-0 at New Anniesland. What was the difference I wondered but my senility did not give me a clear picture of what happened that day. Fortunately I was able to look up the match report and everything became clear.
As they used to say in English classes at school ‘compare and contrast’.
Anniesland: Beautiful sunny day, warm, large well grassed and manicured pitch.
Bladnoch Park: Sunny but breezy, relatively warm for November, pitch in good condition for November and in spite of the recent heavy rain reasonably dry with thick covering of grass.
Nothing much to go on there.
Teams: Accies
           August​November
15​Ross Chassels​Brad Bell
14​Mike Hermes​Craig Wright
13​Stewart Smith​Stewart Smith
12​Dougie Horner​Stevie O’Donnell
11​Craig Wright​Frazer Ross
10​Ali McLaren​Ali McLaren
09​Alan Wilson​Alan Birdsall
01​Jamie Coskry​David Calder
02​Matteo Giovanazzi​Chris McAlpine
03​Matt Franklin​Fabio Marchetti
04​Adam Taylor​Adam Taylor
05​Robert Fuller​Chris McLellan
06​Chris Wright​Claudio Urra
07​Andy Jackson​Andy Jackson
08​John Dillon​Jack Walker
 
16​Robert Fuller​David Calder
17​Kenneth Beattie​Kenneth Beattie
18​Max Henderson​Ross Chassels​
 
The August match report was very revealing in that it said that although Accies had won by a substantial margin they had struggled up front especially in the tight scrums that were dominated by a very large Newton Stewart loose head prop but when he went off after an hour the scrums were more evenly contested. On Saturday Accies held their own in the scrums despite the fact that four hookers were unavailable and Chris McAlpine a tall prop had to hook.
Where was the difference then? Firstly in the backs where the Accies match winner Mike Hermes, scorer of three tries in the earlier game, was missing and the dynamic little centre Dougie Horner was also an absentee. Stephen O’Donnell the regular scrum half was in the centre. Stephen has been a good replacement for Richard McKnight who has retired. Jamie Doig, although he was absent from the August team was also missing. Accies desperately need these players back and urgently, they are all still around but possibly need motivating or rid of work and family commitments to allow them to make a contribution again.
In the forwards Jack Walker was an absentee but he has a long term shoulder injury, as has Chris Wright. Matteo Giovanazzi was also missing and we cannot go into games without a hooker especially as the line out was a shambles.
With the retirement of Steve Begley and Sandy Fitzpatrick and the departure of Cruz Kakaweni it has left a big hole in the pack although Chris McLellan is an able replacement.
The other big difference between the games was the quality of the refereeing. In August the referee was up with play, handled the breakdown sympathetically and let the game flow. I fully realise it is difficult to get top quality referees at this level but surely referees have to be up with current law changes. The gentleman on Saturday was clearly unaware of the law that says the tackler must roll away and other players coming in must remain on their feet. Time after time Accies were penalised for holding on and the tackler was still on the ground with colleagues lying on top of him. Also players are not allowed to come in from the side of the ruck. Last season the bigger Accies pack would have dealt with this more severely. Our players must learn to play to the strength or otherwise of referees or they will continue to be bullied at the breakdown .I should point out that the referee was not responsible for the defeat that can be put down to a powerful display by the Newton Stewart forwards.
Perhaps I should say something about the game.
For the first 20 minutes the Accies forwards looked as if they had taken a tranquilliser on the bus on the way down. Straight from the kick off they stood and watched as the ball bounced between them, looking at it and each other as if to say where did that come from. Newton Stewart snaffled it and held on to it for twenty minutes by which time they were 22-0 up, two tries from rolling over from 5 metre lineouts and one from a missed tackle on a winger. They added to this by grabbing an interception on the halfway line. During this period Accies coughed up 9 penalties so it was little wonder they could not get out of their own half despite having the breeze at their backs.
The fact was that Accies had a far better back division and they demonstrated this when Andy Jackson ran a short penalty, Stewart Smith surged on and found Brad Bell on his elbow and he used his strength to force his way over for a try converted by Ali McLaren. 22-7
Another Ali McLaren pass putting Stewart Smith in the clear and full back Brad Bell travelled up the right wing to take his pass shortly followed this. Brad breezed through some weak tackling to sore his second try. Again Ali McLaren converted from wide out. 22-14. Half time
Accies opened the second half much more brightly with the forwards starting to exert some control. 15 minutes into the half from a series of penalties and the referee playing advantage Craig Wright touched down in the right hand corner. Ali McLaren converted with a superb kick from the sideline into the wind. 22-21.
An unlikely victory and a bonus point now looked on the cards. Accies kept breaking out of defence only to be stopped at the last gasp and invariably they were penalised for holding on as the Newton Stewart defenders smothered the ball.
In the end Accies were the authors of their own downfall when an attempt to run the ball out of their own 22 came apart and Newton Stewart scored a simple try. In the dying minute they once again driving the Accies pack back over their line for the final score. 34-21.
Unless you were a Newton Stewart supporter it was a quite dreadful game of rugby much more like a mud wrestling contest without the mud. However that is the only game Newton Stewart knows and they are difficult to beat on their own patch. Accies can still get their revenge as the Clubs meet again on 8th January in the Shield. This time it is back at New Anniesland.
With high fling Berwick the visitors to New Anniesland Accies will need to be at full strength and the forwards will need a performance like the one they produced to beat Stewartry two weeks ago.
​

This article was posted on 21-Nov-2010, 14:29 by Hugh Barrow.