GHA RETURN FROM TAYSIDE WITH HARD FOUGHT WIN OVER MORGAN ACADEMY

GHA RFC MATCH 215: MORGAN ACADEMY FP 26 – 31 GHA RFC 

2011/2012: Scottish Premiership Three

GHA made the long trip up to Dundee for their first ever visit to Morgan Academy FP as an amalgamted club and will be pleased to have come away with a winning bonus point from a game which hung in the balance going in to the final quarter.

From the first kick off GHA were caught napping and some slack GHA defence allowed the Morgan second row to break clear and trundle 50 metres up the field before eventually being hauled down just outsdie the GHA 22. This proceeded a 5 minute spell of concerted pressure from the home side and they were unlucky not to go a try ahead when they were held up over the line by the GHA defence.

This seemed to spur GHA into life and the next 10 minutes saw the visitors up the tempo with some good posession inside the Morgan half. Andrew Gillman opened the scoring with a penalty goal before Ross McClymont’s neat grubber from a blind-side move was hacked on by winger Rangi Jericevich who beat the cover defender to the touch-down and the opening try.

5 minutes later, GHA stand-off Craig Sorbie made a clean line break from a shortened GHA line-out. He fed Jamie Pinder who was on his outside shoulder who then failed to find Jericevich on his outside – the pass going behind him with the line in sight. However, Andrew Henderson scooped up the loose ball and beat one defender before being tackled 10 metres out near the left hand touchline. Jericevich looped round to take the pop pass and scored in the left hand corner. Gillman missed the conversion but GHA were now 13-0 up and looked comfortable.

The turning point came shortly after when the Morgan left winger was sin-binned for punching in a ruck. GHA’s Adam Barnett was to follow shortly after for handling in a ruck and Morgan took advantage when their scrum half scored a sniping try when he found a gap up the side of a ruck and dived between the sticks.

Ruairi O’keefe made a strong run up the left wing before kicking ahead however the Morgan cover defense managed to scramble deep inside their 22. From the ensuing ruck, GHA were again caught napping and a long pass to their Fijian winger saw him take advantage of a mismatch out wide to break up the right wing and some neat interchange play with his full back followed and then just when it looked like the GHA cover defense had him cornered, a sensational inside flick that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a Super Rugby highlights montage released the Morgan flanker for a great score. 14-13 to the hosts.

Morgan then added a further score before a Gillman penalty halted the tide and brought the half time score to 19-16.

Morgan started the second half with their tails up and looked to consolidate their lead with a barrage of attacks on the GHA line. However, the GHA defense stood firm and for 20 minutes the scoreline remained unchanged. Then, GHA burst back into life. The GHA scrum which had looked solid all afternoon rumbled forward on a 5 metre scrum and Pinder scored the pushover try. Shortly after, Hefin O’Hare broke through the Morgan mid-field and fed McClymont on the outside who blasted round the cover defender for the try. O’Hare then notched one for himself when another well worked mid-field move from a GHA line-out put him clear to score under the posts. GHA 31, Morgan 19 and the game was effectively over.

A final twist occurred in injury time when the referee appeared to tell Gillman that time was up and he kicked the ball into touch. However, the referee played the line-out and another moment of slackness from GHA saw Morgan get the consolation score, their 4th of the afternoon, bringing them within 7 points and thus handing them a deserved two bonus points for their efforts.

GHA will be pleased with the win however the manner in which it was achieved leaves much room for improvement. Next Saturday they travel to Ardrossan for what will be another tough encounter.

Source: Bill McMurtrie