GHA RFC MATCH 113: STEWART’S MELVILLE FP RFC 11 – 13 GHA RFC
2006/2007: Scottish Premiership Two
STEWART’S MELVILLE FP RFC |
|
GHA RFC| J. Moran | 15 | N. Barrett |
| D. McCall | 14 | R. Watson (c) |
| A. Cox | 13 | A. Rushforth |
| M. Allan | 12 | A. Bulloch |
| J. Gordon | 11 | R. McClymont |
| C. Goudie | 10 | J. Noonan |
| R. Primrose | 9 | A. Miller |
| A. Tanoai | 1 | J. Welsh |
| S. McMurchy | 2 | D. Ziolo |
| A. Statham | 3 | A. Kelly |
| D. Naismith | 4 | G. Williamson |
| S. Dalgleish | 5 | I. Smith |
| P. Hendry | 6 | G. Harkness |
| (c) S. Clark | 7 | A. Rennick |
| R. Vernon | 8 | S. Kearns |
| Ad. Duncan | 16 | G. King |
| Al. Duncan | 17 | A. Baldioli |
| S. Doneghan | 18 | C. Mason |
| G. Sharp | 19 | R. Jericevich |
| Allan | Try | Bulloch, Watson |
| Con | ||
| Moran (2) | Pen | Noonan |
| DG | ||
| Referee | ||
| Mr J. Bell (Edinburgh RS) | ||
GHA move into second position in Premiership Two after a narrow win at Inverleith by 13-11 over Stewart’s Melville with tries from Alan Bulloch and Rory Watson, and a James Noonan penalty clincher.
The first match of the new year started promisingly for the home team; who came out of the blocks quickly and took the game to their west coast visitors. Following a number of indifferent performances in the run up to the Christmas break, the home supporters will have been pleased to witness the team playing with real endeavour, retaining possession well and pressurising the opposition.
After only five minutes, the impressive Murray Allan grabbed the first score of the game with a try in the far corner, willed over by the ever present Vatican Ultras. The tricky conversion was missed, but this was close to a perfect start. The Edinburgh team continued to play well after the restart, with Colin Goudie clearing his lines well from stand off and the forwards competing hard at the breakdown and disrupting their heavier opponents with some excellent counter rucking.
It gradually became evident, however, that GHA had the edge at the scrummage, and that their driving maul was a dangerous force from the line out. Around 25 minutes into the half, Stew Mel were penalised for collapsing a maul and prop Andrew Statham was shown a yellow card. GHA opened their account with a penalty goal by Noonan, but could not make more of the numerical advantage and Jimmy Moran replied with a Stew Mel goal to leave the score at Stew Mel 8, GHA 3 at half time.
The hosts struggled to keep possession of the ball for long periods after the break, and our stoic defence was eventually worn down by the large GHA pack, one of the visitors scoring from close range following a concerted driving effort (Stew Mel 8, GHA 8). We continued to play the game on the back foot, and our challenge was made even more difficult when we lost Shaun McMurchy to the sin bin – again, the Stew Mel front row player was adjudged to have stopped one of GHA’s mauls illegally.
Somewhat against the run of play, we regained the lead through a further Jimmy Moran penalty on 75 minutes. This lead was short lived, however, GHA completing the scoring when a chip ahead was fortuitously gathered by Watson who went in to score in the corner. Final score: Stew Mel 11, GHA 13.
Source: The Scotsman & Stewart’s Melville FP RFC, Sunday 7th January 2007
