GHK 17 - North Berwick 12

Two good teams produced a cracking game at a bitterly cold North Berwick. GHK travelled back along the M8 well pleased and not a little relieved with the 17 - 12 win in a game that ultimately could have gone either way.
GHK's early monopoly of possession and territory suggested a bigger margin was on the cards but a mixture of missed chances and some excellent North Berwick defence kept the scoreline blank for the first 22 mins. Such was the early dominance that it was fully 20 mins before North Berwick could get in to GHK's half.
The forwards were controlling set piece and a lineout take and 15/20 metre drive in the first 5 mins ended with the ball moved wide and Rory Love tackled in the corner. Andy Fleming missed a penalty from around 35 metres and from the restart missed with a drop goal attempt from 40 metres. A further penalty in 8 mins was kicked to the corner and the resultant take and drive was stopped short,in touch.
GHK were enjoying a conveyor belt of possession but despite some very good running and handling the North Berwick defence held firm. The pressure had to tell and finally after, after 22 mins, when Rory Love secured the ball from a loose North Berwick clearance,the ball was recycled in several phases and moved right with Tony Herron in the line releasing a well timed pass to debutant winger Joe Sergeant-Awuse who showed great pace to score in the corner. Flem missed the touchline against the wind. 5- 0 to GHK in 22 mins. Joe had taken a knock and Danny Campbell came on to the wing.
From the kick off Danny Hoffmann was penalised for holding on in the tackle/ruck and North Berwick kicked to the corner. GHK won the lineout against the throw and Flem cleared from one 22 to the other. Inevitably North Berwick came more in to the game and when from a scrum near half way,Flem broke down the blind but lost possession North Berwick quickly countered and with good hands and strong running broke through a couple of tackles ending with the winger cutting through to score a converted try close to the posts. 7 - 5 to North Berwick in 28 mins.
GHK responded by taking the ball from their own kick off and proding a well placed kick to towards the corner. North Berwick cleared to touch where GHK won the lineout and moved the ball through the hands ending with North Berwick being penalised in the tackle/ruck and a missed penalty attempt. Mike Borthwick had taken a sore one at the lineout and was replaced by Neil Kiltie.
North Berwick could have had a man sin binned for tackling Tony Herron in the air as he fielded a high ball but play continued and when the ball was knocked on by GHK the resultant scrum was taken against the head,with the ball moved down the blind side where Tony intruded to feed Danny Campbell running in to score out wide. Flem missed the difficult conversion. 10 - 7 to GHK at half time.
Scant reward for all the good work from GHK.
North Berwick turning to play down the slope , upped their game and several good lineout takes with forward drives and backs coming on to the ball at pace gave notice of what was to come for most of the second half. GHK's defence was sorely tested and inevitably penalties were conceded. North Berwick missed a kick at goal from GHK's 10 metre line and Danny Campbell cleared to 30 metres. From the lineout North Berwick produced and excellent ploy and runners burst through the lineout at pace with a pass to close support ending in a well worked try. 12 - 10 to North Berwick.
North Berwick tails were up and it was GHK's turn to withstand long periods of pressure. Only some very committed defence kept North Berwick out.Greg Woolard took a knock. Alex Purdie came on to prop and Scott Cameron moved to blind side flanker.
GHK forced their way back in to the North Berwick half and on 54 mins Flem missed a penalty from the 10 metre line. GHK were enjoying a good spell and from another penalty Flem nudged the ball to the corner. GHK were stopped short from the resultant take and drive.
However within a few minutes,good scrum ball was moved to the open side and Rory Love appeared outside Danny Hoffmann,feeding to Tony Herron and on to Danny Campbell to score in the corner. Flem found his kicking boots and landed an excellent conversion from the touchline to make it 17 - 12 to GHK in 60 mins.
North Berwick then threw everything at GHK but Flem used clever kicking to keep North Berwick back in their own half for long periods. North Berwick pressed hard towards the end and GHK were perhaps fortunate not to have a sin binning for repeated penalty infringement but the tremendous team spirit kept the line intact to hold on for the win. 17 - 12 to GHK.
To put the performance into perspective; North Berwick hadn't lost a home game for over a season and had also beeen winning with try bonus points. A very important win and such a hard game on the back of last weeks nail-biter against Cambuslang was just what the team needed to get back to full match fitness after such a long lay off.
Great stuff.Well done guys.

VP

This article was posted on 24-Jan-2011, 14:54 by Hugh Barrow.