GHA 30 Dumfries Saints 13

GHA opened their Premier Three campaign with a win against Dumfries in a Braidholm
match which left the home support with mixed emotions. It was a win while not playing,
and yet by the end GHA were ruing the missed chances that denied them a bonus point
in the last 10 minutes.

Over the first half it looked like a contest from which GHA would be happy to extract a
win, whatever the way. They were under the Dumfries cosh in the scrummage, and their
lineout was not functioning well.

Dumfries were 10-3 points up after 24 minutes, and they had squandered three scoring
opportunities before they did record their first points. A 55-metre penalty fell short, a
kick ahead bounced too far for the follow-up, and a knock-on over the goal-line preceded
a simple try for left wing Whelan. Full back Hiddleston converted and added a penalty
goal.

GHA’s defence, however, tightened up after that try, and their forwards, though outdone
at the set piece, were hearteningly vigorous in the loose. Moreover, the visitors’
game at the breakdown did not satisfy the referee, Mhairi Hay, and two penalties for
infringements on the ground allowed Andrew Gillman to respond to each Dumfries try
with a penalty goal.

An offside penalty allowed Gillman to cut the Dumfries lead to 10-9 after 33 minutes
with a goal from 45 metres, and the visitors’ persistent infringements persuaded referee
that enough was enough. A yellow card cut the Dumfries number to 14. But Gillman
missed the goal from about the same range as his third success, and in first-half added
time the teams’ numbers were equalised when Matt Kidd was sin-binned because of a
scrum infringement.

Just three minutes into the second half a typical mazy run by Ross McClymont created
the opportunity about 30 metres out for Craig Sorbie to chip and chase and pick up the
ball on the bounce for a try at the posts. GHA were ahead for the first time, and Gillman
added the conversion.

Full back Hiddleston cut the margin to three points after 52 minutes with his second
penalty goal, and soon afterwards Rangi Jericevich’s crossfield cover only just denied
Dumfries a second try.

Thereafter, for fully 10 minutes, Dumfries laid siege to the home line. GHA’s castle walls
held out, and suddenly, just as the match was edging into its final quarter, the home
team unleashed two quick-fire, long-range raids for a couple of tries. Hefin O’Hare
sparked the first of those sorties from catch deep inside his own half on the right, and
from the subsequent linkage and recycling Dominic Kellock and Andy Henderson sent
O'Hare in at the posts. The second strike was finished off by Jericevich.

Gillman converted both, but GHA were denied a bonus-point try mainly by their own handling errors and misjudgements.

GHA – Ross McClymont; Rangi Jericevich, Hefin O’Hare, Andy Henderson,
Ruairdh O’Keefe; Craig Sorbie, Andrew Gillman (captain); Matt Kidd, Donald Malcolm, Michael
Fox, Ryan Jenkins, Mark Anderson, Adam Barnett, Jamie Pinder, and Euan Angus
MacLeod. Replacements – Iain Nelson, Stephen Spowart, Dominic Kellock, Martin Dunn.

Dumfries Saints – T Hiddleston; K Henderson, A Whiteford, S Hiddleston, A Whelan; G
Gemmell, A Ainslie; B Kennedy, F Paul, G McCall, A Mather, S Kennedy, P Coupar, L Smith,
D Henderson. Replacements – S Graham, V Satala, M McClatchy, J Sloan.

Referee – Mhairi Hay.