GHA RFC MATCH 14: GHA RFC 23 – 11 KIRKCALDY RFC 

2002/2003: Scottish Premiership Two

GHA RFC 

 KIRKCALDY RFC

N. Barrett15C. Milne
R. Watson14C. Goodall
B. Beagley13R. Browne
A. Gibbon12D. McCoombe
A. Scott11R. Dewey
J. Noonan10D. Petre
R. Au9B. Jones
R. Nolan1M. Thomson
S. MacKinnon2S. Brown
G. Walsh3G. Mangalo
T. Carmichael4G. Jenkins
J. Reid5K. Fraser
G. Howieson6S. Mitchell
E. Smith7S. Cain
A. Plastow8C. MacDonald
D. Jamieson16C. Harvey
S. Unkles17J. Watson
J. Fitzpatrick18J. Brown
S. O’Donnell19S. Knox
Plastow, WatsonTryFraser
Noonan (2)Con
Noonan (2), BarrettPenMcCoombe
DGMcCoombe
Referee
Mr D. Gemmell (Carrick RFC)

The pattern of the match mirrored that of the weather, starting brightly but finally ending up only just short of dreich, writes Ron Evans. It would have been hard to keep up the tempo of the opening minutes anyway, a Derek McCoombe drop-goal and Rory Watson’s response by sliding in at the corner all coming in the opening two minutes.

The next flurry came after James Noonan, converter of Watson’s try, was yellow-carded following an indiscretion trying to prevent a try. With GHA a forward short, the hard-working Kenny Fraser latched on to a short ball to crash over. Then Nicky Barrett and the restored Noonan potted a penalty apiece, but after No. 8 Craig McDonald had galloped 40 yards off a short penalty, McCoombe pulled the margin back to two points at the break. Noonan slotted his second goal 15 minutes into the second half, and his delightful sleight of hand with ten minutes to go put Andy Plastow in for the clinching try. Kirkcaldy upped their effort and pinned GHA into their own 22 but, try as they might, they were unable to unpick an organised defence.

The game had its flashes, but both sides tried to play their rugby at a distance from the opposition danger zone, a fact lamented by Kirkcaldy coach Mike O’Donovan. “We gave the ball away too easily and didn’t stick to the game plan,” he said.

Source: The Scotsman & The Glasgow Herald, Monday 2nd December 2002

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