Match Report v Helensburgh

Helensburgh is a difficult place to win (and inexplicably some of the team even found the town let alone the rugby club a difficult place to find!).

GHK survived long periods of pressure from a hard running and rucking Helensburgh side to keep their line intact and ultimately score a late fourth try for the bonus point and a very worthy 30 - 9 win.

Helensburgh played with the slight breeze in the first half and their stand off made good use of the boot to keep GHK back in their own half. Strong rucking in the loose from Helensburgh regularly disrupted GHK possession and gave Helensburgh turnover ball or scrummage put in. However GHK's scrummage was on top throughout and continuously pressured Helensburgh ball, winning a number of rescrums and reversed put - ins. GHK's lineout was also the stronger of the two and several Helensburgh throw-ins were stolen at key moments.

With defences on top it was 21 mins before either side had an opportunity to get on the scoreboard. Flem missed with a long range penalty attempt from Helensburgh's 10 m line near touch but Helensburgh put the ball straight out from the 22 m drop out and Flem had another bite at the cherry when Helensburgh infringed in a tackle on Darcy in front of the posts. 3- 0 to GHK in 24 mins.

Helensburgh had a chance to draw level with a penalty from half way.The kick easily had the distance but just missed and a second attempt from 45 m also went begging in 29 mins. GHK went back up up the pitch to Helensburgh's 22, winning a scrum on the right hand side. The ball was moved through the hands but the backs were static. Tony Herron now on for Andy Shedden injected a bit of pace and fed Rory L who had a lot to do. Was that a side-step or two, or self preservation; either way Rory did exceptionally well to beat 2 or 3 tacklers to score in the corner. Flem hit an excellent conversion to put GHK 10 - 0 up in 31 mins.

Neil Kiltie came on for Gregor Hollerin. Helensburgh continued to pressure in the loose and when GHK knocked the ball on, Flem was caught off-side. Helensburgh didn't miss this time,converting a 40 m penalty for 3 - 10 in 35 mins.

GHK hit back immediately. GHK's scrum continued to dominate and with a good platform on Helensburgh's 22 Mikey B picked up and fed to Mike A who gave a well timed pass to Tony H intruding on the blind side who got in to the gap and slipped a clever one handed flick to Danny C to score in the corner. Flem missed the difficult conversion . 3 - 15 in 36 mins.

Another good piece of interplay between Danny C and Tony H saw Tony come on to Danny's long pass at a great angle , breaking through midfield only for Helensburgh to put in good cover and GHK were penalised in the tackle.
Half time 3 - 15 to GHK.

More of the same in the second half, although GHK undid a lot of good work and gave Helensburgh momentum with a string of ruck and tackle infringements.

At the start of the second half GHK might have had more reward when Rory L was up on a long diagonal from Flem that bounced inwards rather than in to touch.Rory made a good tackle and was quickly on his feet but the supporting Helensburgh defence got there and a penalty at the ruck relieved the pressure. Helensburgh worked their way to the GHK 22 and secured possession midfield for a well taken drop goal; 6 - 15.

Helensburgh then got another chance, when a penalty at goal from out wide on the GHK 10 m line fell short Mike A caught and cleared only for Helensburgh to be awarded a penalty for GHK players not retiring. The kick was awarded on the GHK 22 m in front of the posts. 9 - 15 in 52 mins. GHK then withstood a series of attacks from Helensburgh with some very determined defence. When Helensburgh kicked through Tony H took and ran back through a couple of tackles feeding Mikey B who also did extremely well to break two tackles before feeding Darcy coming up on his outside at pace to stretch his legs to outpace the cover and score an unconverted try in the corner. 9 - 20 in 57 mins.

Danny C put in another good run resulting in a penalty to GHK on Helensburgh's 22. Flem converted 9 - 23 in 60 mins. A penalty to Helensburgh on half way was marched forward 10 m for back chat but the kick was missed. However this signalled a 15 min spell when Helensburgh threw everything in to attack and were rewarded with several penalties on GHK's 5 m line; all of which were tapped and run but GHK put in some tremendous defence to hold out. GHK's scrummage turned the ball over on 5 m and the ball was finally won and cleared. Neil Kiltie had taken a knock and Gregor Hollerin came back on.

Flem launched a penalty 50 m to Helensburgh's corner and with GHK's lineout dominance there was expectation of a take and drive for a bonus point try. Stage 1 went to plan but the blind side drive from the maul was snuffed out in to touch. Another bite when Darcy stole the resultant lineout but the ball was splilled in the backs as Tony H came in the line. Helensburgh cleared to half way and it looked like the chance had gone.

Another penalty to Helensburgh pushed GHK further back in to their own half but when loose ball resulted from a Helensburgh attack in GHK's 22 , Gregor H scooped up the ball , broke a tackle and passed to Tony H who took play on with Danny C. GHK got quick ruck ball and Flem shimmied through for a converted score at the posts. 9 - 30 in 78 mins.
Final score 30 - 9 for GHK.

Although the score line looks emphatic, and ultimately it was with 4 tries to none and a bonus point, this was a hard fought game and only some outstanding defence kept Helensburgh at bay and the GHK try line intact. Another very good win on the road. GHK's last 3 games are at home, starting with Gordonians on Saturday .


VP

This article was posted on 11-Apr-2011, 08:06 by Lindsay Kerr.

This article was posted on 12-Apr-2011, 16:20 by Hugh Barrow.