GHA RFC MATCH 216: ARDROSSAN ACADEMICALS RFC 21 – 36 GHA RFC
2011/2012: Scottish Premiership Three
ARDROSSAN ACADEMICALS RFC |
|
GHA RFC| R. Hunter | 15 | R. McClymont |
| J. McKee | 14 | R. Jericevich |
| A. Duncan | 13 | H. O’Hare |
| T. Talepa | 12 | A. Henderson (c) |
| S. Duff | 11 | B. Farrell |
| A. Wilson | 10 | C. Sorbie |
| M. Grant | 9 | M. Houston |
| B. Hamilton | 1 | S. Spowart |
| E. Thomson | 2 | I. Nelson |
| I. Frazer | 3 | J. Low |
| B. Littlejohn | 4 | M. Anderson |
| M. Henry | 5 | R. Jenkins |
| S. Lamont | 6 | A. Barnett |
| G. Telfer | 7 | J. Pinder |
| S. Nimmo | 8 | D. Kellock |
| J. F. Young | 16 | C. Landsburgh |
| B. Hunter | 17 | J. Auld |
| N. Welsh | 18 | R. O’Keefe |
| J. M. Young | 19 | |
| Try | Henderson, Jericevich, McClymont, O’Hare, O’Keefe, Sorbie | |
| Con | Houston (3) | |
| Pen | ||
| DG | ||
| Referee | ||
| Mr G. Wells | ||
GHA played some scintillating rugby on a blustery day during Saturday’s visit to the West coasters.
Ardrossan won the toss and elected to play with the strong wind at their backs in the first half. A good opening by the home team saw them score a well worked try from a pick and go by their dangerous scrum half. They capitlaised on the wind advantage to keep GHA pinned inside their own half and were able to capitalise from two penalties to give them an 11-0 lead whilst GHA were unable to convert their two penalty opportunities. GHA burst into life around the 20 minute mark and began to dominate the game with some neat interchange play between backs and forwards and but for a few mistimed passes, they could easily have score three tries before the break. However, they had to make do with a solitary score by Ross McClymont, the full back wrestled his way over in the corner after a sustained period of pressure on the Ardrossan line.
A mistake by GHA early in the second half led to an Ardrossan penalty which was successfully converted to put the home team up 14-5. This was to prove a temporary blip on GHA’s bid to gain the lead and shortly after, Andrew Henderson opened his try count for the season from the easiest of scores when a well worked scrum move allowed him to stroll under the posts untouched. Another scrum move soon after was worked wide for right wing Rangi Jericevich to score in the corner and give GHA a 17-14 advantage.
The try of the day came from a GHA line out which was won neatly off the top before being shipped to a hard running Dominic Kellock in the GHA mid-field. Quick ball was secured and outstanding GHA prop Josh Low took an inside pass from Stand Off Craig Sorbie, busting through the Ardrossan defence before feeding Hefin O’Hare on his outside who finished in the left hand corner.
A lapse in concentraion on defence then handed the Ardrossan centre an easy score off of a 5 metre scrum from the home team and brought them back within a striking distance with GHA’s lead cut to 24-21.
GHA reponded when Sorbie executed a neat chip over the Ardrossan defensive line and recovered it before touching down. Ardrossan recovered their own restart and some excellent play saw them work their way deep into the GHA 22. However, the GHA defence stood firm and were unlucky to see McClymont sin-binned for what appeared a perfectly legitimate turn over. Ardrossan could not make the one man advantage pay however and the game was capped by GHA when subsitute wing Ruairi O’Keefe intercepted a wide Ardrssan pass and sprinted a full 80 metres for GHA’s 6th and final try.
Next Saturday GHA are at home to last seasons National 1 champions Lasswade who make their second ever visit to Braidholm after a hard fought cup tie between the two sides in 2009. GHA ran out 39-6 winners on that occasion but having secured two promotions since then and with a 52-0 victory over Morgan FP in their last fixture, the Midlothian men will be coming to Braidholm full of confidence. Kick off is 3pm.
Source: Bill McMurtrie
