The sunny conditions brought out the best in GHK who produced some outstanding rugby against a Gordonians side , who played their part with strong driving and expansive handling , GHK running out 47 - 17 winners in a highly entertaining game at OA.

Gordonians had the wind in the first half and used it well, kicking in to GHK's 22 and forcing GHK to run back several times in the first few minutes. This GHK did particularly well and Rory L had two break outs, beating his man and dashing 50 mts or so up the pitch, firstly feeding to the supporting Mikey B who was tackled and quick ball from the ruck was moved left but a big overlap was wasted and secondly when Rory was tackled in to touch by the last man. The quick hands and counter attack support play was to be a constant theme throughout the match.

When Greg W took another ball on from the GHK 22, Andy D stepped over the ball to give quick ruck release; a long pass from Andy S to Danny C with link support from Mikey B running up the touch line found Hugh P on his inside striding away to score at the posts. Tony H converted , 7 - 0 in 15 mins.

A missed penalty chance by Gordonians within a minute of the restart signalled a period of pressure in GHK's 22 and despite dogged defence Gordonian's drives produced a well taken try. 7 - 5 in 22 mins. Gordonians kept up the pressure and were rewarded when a nicely angled line break which had Tony H making the last tackle but the ball was quickly recycled producing another score to Gordonians. 7 - 10 in 25 mins.

A penalty clearance from a high tackle on Tony H got GHK up the pitch and a good take and drive for 15 mts followed by offside against Gordonians and a quick tap penalty might have produced more but Rory McC was tackled in to touch and the ball was cleared. The quick lineout was moved to Tony H who caught his own chip and chase but was tackled and the move broke down.

The GHK scrum was working well and from a solid platform and pick up to Mike A the ball was moved to Tony H coming in at pace to score out wide . Tony H converted. 14 - 10 in 36 mins.
Another great piece of support play saw the Gordonians restart taken by Mikey B who ran a good line and when the ball went loose it was won again and moved to Gordi R who did really well to get in to the gap and flipped to Hugh P at pace who got outside the initial cover and fed inside to Rory L who evaded the tackle to score. 19 - 10 at half time.

The second half started well for GHK with good work from the forwards securing ball for the lively backs. Rory L was through a gap but his chip was blocked. Rory then showed good positional sense when he got back to take a Gordonian's kick on the touch line, fed inside to close support who set up a ruck; Mike A looked at the blind side but turned open and fed a well timed pass to Danny H coming on to the ball at a great angle, bursting through the tackle and popped to Gordi R who was on his shoulder and ran on well to score at the posts. Tony H converted. 26 - 10 in 55 mins.

Rory L again reacted quickest from a loose GHK tapped lineout in GHK's 22 and came on to the ball from the wing feeding out the line to Adam McL who took it on and linked with Rory McC who showed good speed to press on to the Gordonian's 22; Danny C was on his outside but the tackler got his hand on the pass and the ball ended in touch.

A loose kick from Gordonians bounced to Mikey B 35 metres out from GHK's line. Mikey ran the length of the pitch shrugging off tackles until he was brought down at the try line. Rory L was up in support and picked up the ruck ball to dot the ball down for the score. Converted by Tony H. 33 - 10 in 64 mins.

Gordonians had another good spell and GHK again defended well. Gordonians ran a couple of kickable penalties and Mikey B stole loose ball which was quickly fed to Tony H who sprinted away and had Russell J (on for Danny C) outside on the overlap but a poor pass ended an otherwise great counter attack.
Gordonians got back up the pitch and a penalty on 5 mts produced a tap and driven score at the posts. 33 - 17 in 70 mins.

Andy S and Greg W came off with Danny C back on at scrum half, Mike A to stand off and Ross Murphy on for Greg W.
Another loose kick from Gordonians 22 bounced to Hugh P in GHK's half, who ran back to the 22 but the ball was knocked on from the next phase and the ball was cleared. GHK won the lineout and Tony H took the pass from Danny H's scything break to score in the corner. An excellent touchline conversion by Tony H made it 40 - 17 in 75 mins.
Tony H took a bang on the leg and Andy S came back on at full back. Gordonians had another spell of pressure but Danny H intercepted and weaved his way ahead of the tackler to score under the posts. Converted on full time. Final score 47 - 17.

Another very good performance which sets the scene for the visit of Orkney next Saturday 23rd. Kick off 12.30 pm with Hawks following on for their crunch game with Currie at 3pm.

VP

This article was posted on 20-Apr-2011, 06:26 by Hugh Barrow.