“The Game of Two Halves”
 
With rain having fallen over the west of Scotland on Friday night and Saturday morning right upto the start of the game, but with sunshine on its way, this scribe saw the potential for the classic game of two halves and so it proved to be…
 
Waysiders big heavy pack totally dominated to proceedings in the first half on a sticky, gluey pitch, indeed their big heavy pack drove over for the first try after 7 minutes after a series of driving mauls and their giant second row, magnificently, picking up a pass from his bootstraps dove over from 2 yards out with an easy conversion.
 
Waysiders 7 – Accies 0
 
With the sun now out, Accies fought back with some good play but vital chances were missed through a combination of dropped passes and wrong options. These chances were to be rued as Waysiders’ pack struck back driving Accies back fully 25 metres with the driving maul for the second try again converted.
 
A relatively lightweight Accies pack were under serious pressure in the scrums and mauls, made worse by the, slightly harsh, sin-binning of Jack Walker for collapsing the maul around the halfway line. One down in the pack for Accies was meat and drink for Waysiders and quite rightly they kept it in the forwards and got their reward with a pushover try from 5 metres out.
 
It was just reward for Waysiders as they had dominated the proceedings with their bigger pack on a sticky, gluey pitch, however, the non conversion of the third try might just have left the door open if Accies could regroup at half time.
 
Half Time: Waysiders 19 – Accies 0
 
And regroup they did… with the sun out for fully an hour, the pitch was drying, Accies were back to full compliment of players and they finally worked out that to beat this heavy Waysiders pack the best option was to move the ball, make their heavy boys run around and tire them out. Accies went at it with gusto, initially Waysiders were up to the task but as time wore on their big men visibly wilted and ran out of puff.
 
The Beattie production line continues… Robert Beattie, barely 17, was switched to scrum half due to Ali McLaren’s injury and was simply sensational, good service, probing the gaps at the mauls with half breaks and really put some zip into the game. His 30 metre break early in the second half set the tone, 3 or 4 rucks later and Accies had scored their first try as Jamie Corskery took the pop pass and had enough to get over the line. (Converted by Stephen O’Donnell)
 
Suddenly, the sun was hot, the pitch was drying rapidly, Accies had stepped up the pace and, although two tries down, it was game on!
What followed was a lengthy sustained period of pressure from Accies hammering away at Waysiders but couldn’t force the second try early enough to get a third and steal the game as final passes were being knocked on and Waysiders desperate defence was on occasion paying dividends. This scribe thought they were quite fortunate to keep 15 men on the pitch at all times as the infringements were piling up amidst the one way traffic that Accies had brought to the game.
 
Finally, with 5 minutes to go and Wasiders pack out on their feet, Accies get the second try as Dougie Horne burst through into the corner, excellently converted by Stephen O’Donnell.
 
Waysiders 19 – Accies 14
 
Accies had about 3 or 4 minutes to get the final try, and they hammered at the door to get it. Sadly in the final move the ball was knocked on and the chance was lost dashing Accies hopes of victory.
 
Full Time: Waysiders 19 – Accies 14
 
On reflection, Waysiders probably did just enough to deserve the victory, the relief on the faces of their coaching staff was clear to see. For Accies, they needed to step up the pace and play the game wider, much earlier on in the game in order to run the legs off the Waysiders pack. Why?, rugby is an 80 minute game and if you keep stretching the opposition, eventually they’ll break, the gaps will appear later in the game and tries will come as a result.
 
 

This article was originally posted on 23-Apr-2011, 19:04 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 23-Apr-2011, 19:06.