There’s little doubt that, judged simply on the level of performance, this was GHK’s poorest game of the season, with many aspects of their play falling far short of the very high standards they have set themselves. In the first half in particular, first up tackles (and sometimes second and third up as well) were missed; wrong options were taken; passes, some of which were overly ambitious in the very difficult wind, were misplaced; and there was some poor kicking, both from hand and at goal.
However, it could equally be argued that this turned out to be GHK’s most impressive win of the season: overcoming a side who were previously unbeaten at home in the league this year; doing so when up against the prevailing elements in the second half with only a one point lead to protect; and coming back from conceding early tries in both halves. To use one of the favoured current sporting clichés, this was ‘winning ugly’ taken to extremes!
GHK kicked off with the elements in their favour but were caught napping very early on when the Irvine number 8 picked up from a scrum on the visitors 22 and ran through unopposed to touch down for an easy score. The Irvine kicker was unable to add the extra points into the wind, even from fairly close to the posts.
GHK quickly hit back when Andy Fleming converted a penalty from some 30m to bring it back to 5-3 to the hosts. Unfortunately, Andy was to miss from a similar range a few minutes later and two other reasonably good chances before the break, with only one other successful kick to give GHK the narrowest of leads at 5-6 at half time.
GHK also lost flanker Greg Woolard to injury within the first few minutes of the game leading to a welcome season’s debut for the returning George Oommen,
It didn’t look good for GHK as the second half began as consensus seemed to be that it was at least a 10– 15 point wind.
If the standard of play from GHK had been largely forgettable in the first half, the beginning of the second started in an equally inauspicious manner, with Irvine using forward drives to exert pressure on the GHK line, eventually leading to their second try to put them 10-6 up with half an hour left and the opportunity to use the elements to keep GHK pegged back in their own half.
GHK’s indomitable spirit has proved a huge asset whenever required and it was certainly this that contributed hugely to them clawing their way back into the opposition half and into the game, managing to gain position close enough to the Irvine line and exert sufficient pressure to force penalties, two of which were goaled by Andy Fleming, to give GHK a two point lead with ten minutes left.
Irvine continued to throw everything at GHK but, by now, the visitors determination to hold on to their lead was evident in much more committed defence, with outstanding contributions from the likes of Mike Borthwick and Owen McInroy, with the latter playing a good deal of the game at wing forward rather than in the front row. The introduction after injury of Cammy McLay at prop also seemed to galvanise the pack resulting in good scrum pressure and some great defensive line out steals form Hugh Parker.
Plaudits, then, mainly to the forwards but the backs kept trying to create with Danny Campbell, in particular, looking dangerous when given a little space. It was from one of Danny’s breaks that Irvine were penalised, GHK opting for the line out drive, with the diminutive Gordi Reid claiming the touchdown for what had seemed, at times, an unlikely win.
GHK have now won away at the grounds of their three closest challengers and have proved their ability to win when not playing anywhere near their best, an important quality to have in any league campaign.
Away from the league, Irvine have an immediate chance to seek a turn round as they visit OA next week in a West Regional Shield match, with the first half of the league programme being completed the following Saturday with another home match for GHK, against East Kilbride.
GHK’s maintain their position at the top of the table but with their lead down to 2 points from Marr with Irvine a further eight points behind.

VP

This article was posted on 25-Oct-2011, 10:51 by Hugh Barrow.