Another good win on the road for GHK, scoring some cracking tries in an entertaining 57 - 21 win over a never say die Forrester.

Playing into the wind GHK sought to keep the ball alive as much as possible, producing some excellent running with good linking between forwards and backs. Forrester relieved pressure with some long touch kicks or made ground from GHK spilled ball. However,the continual quick movement created gaps resulting in an outstanding "team" score when Gordi R took a pass from a neat chip through from Mike A and fed Mikey B on to Tony H, who came in at a great angle to break the defence, passing to Scott R and on to Rory L who scampered in for the converted try. 7 - 0 in as many minutes.

GHK scrummage was working well and took a couple against the head but loose passes lost the advantage and in one case Forrester intercepted and ran clear until Tony H got back to cover tackle. GHK won the resultant scrum and Flem cleared downfield only for Forrester to kick it back to Tony H who slipped the ball to Rory L making a good break to take play well upfield. Forrester got across to snuff out the move. Scott R had taken a knock and was replaced by Adam MacLay on 26 mins. On 29 mins Robbie S straightened his run and with quick ruck ball Flem went down the blind side, catching his own delicate chip to feed Rory L who came on the angle to run round to score under the posts. Flem converted 14 - 0 to GHK.

A bit of RL petulance resulted in a penalty restart for Forrester at half-way. Surprisingly Forrester chose to scrum but it worked for them and within a couple of plays they had a lineout on GHK's 5 m line. Fergus L stole the lineout and Flem kicked clear. A bit of ping pong kicking ended with a breakdown and scrum to Forrester on half-way. Ball in squint and a bit of back chat saw the ref march Forrester back 10 mts. Mike A took a quick tap and with some lovely rugby the ball was moved down the right hand side where Danny C, running out of space, came in-field; the ball was recycled with firstly Cammy McLay and then Fergus L taking the ball on and again recycling; Flem threw a nice dummy and shimmied through to score in the corner. 19-0 in 36 mins.

Adam Johnstone came on for Greg W who had taken a knock. Good timing for Adam as when possession was stolen from Forrester in the break down, the ball was moved quickly and Adam was through to score in the left corner. Flem converted. 26 - 0 to GHK at half time.

5 mins in to the 2nd half Flem produced another break and the ball was moved to the supporting Robbie S who scored under the posts. 33 - 0. Further pressure from GHK resulted when a good lineout take was quickly moved to the backs where Adam MacLay took it on and Tony H was tackled in to touch close to the try line. Forrester won the lineout and cleared to their 22. GHK won the lineout and Mikey B broke through and with good support , quick ruck ball was moved to Danny H who came on to the ball at a great angle and at pace to score at the posts. Flem converted 40 - 0 in 55 mins. Ally Munro came on for Rory McCormick.

Perhaps GHK thought that having completely dominated the game,the scores would keep on coming. However,inexplicably and uncharacteristically GHK then produced a 15 min period of indiscipline giving away several free kicks and penalties combined with back chat that contrived to repeatedly give away possession and territory allowing Forrester to build momentum. Forrester tapped a penalty in front of the posts and went over for a converted score. 40 - 7; followed by a break by Forrester from their own 22 leading to another score, despite some excellent cover tackling, 40 - 14 in 64 mins.

This seemed to spur GHK in to action and a quick tap penalty and break by Mike A was fed to Gordi R in support who ran well to score at the posts. 47 - 14 in 69 mins.
Another penalty for back chat and Forrester ran strongly through a couple of tackles to score. 47 - 21 in 75 mins.

GHK got their act together(due to the desire to prevent the losing side sneaking a bonus point in defeat)and following a series of good breaks from Darcy,Danny H,Adam Johnstone and a good steal in the maul by Gordi R , Adam MacLay broke and drew the defence putting Mikey B in for an unconverted score 52 - 21 in 78 mins. The game finished with a good driving maul from the forwards with Robbie S touching down for a final unconverted try 57 - 21.

GHK were very impressive and played some great rugby. Hopefully the form can continue in to the next game, again on the road, at Helensburgh, accompanied by the 2XV.

VP

This article was posted on 6-Apr-2011, 19:20 by Hugh Barrow.