Helensburgh Advertiser | Sport

Wednesday, 19th November, 2008

Published: Thursday, 28th September, 2006 10:52

Away day blues

Lenzie .. 18 Helensburgh .. 16

HELENSBURGH continued their poor away record on Saturday as they squandered numerous chances to put the match beyond opponents Lenzie, before gifting them a win in the second half of a frustrating match.

And to make matters worse for the disappointed Burgh boys, Floyd was taken to hospital with a suspected broken leg following a tough tackle in the second half.

The Burgh side have been playing a wonderful brand of rugby at Ardencaple this season, but for some reason have been unable to take their excellent home form on the road.

A sizeable Helensburgh support turned up at Viewfield Park, Lenzie, on Saturday, hopeful that skipper Neil Sloan could lead the Greens further down the road in their promotion challenge.

It proved not to be in a match that frustrated the vocal Green’s support as clearly Helensburgh were the more accomplished side.

But, having established a good lead prior to half-time, they saw it frittered away in the closing minutes of the match.

The game started with Lenzie applying strong pressure and their stand off kicking to the corner.

From the maul following a lineout the home side were awarded a penalty on the five minute mark, which was scored to give Lenzie a 3-0 lead.

Lenzie’s pressure continued from the re-start, but a great 50 metre break-out by winger Welsh lifted the Greens, with Musset and Sloan evident in driving play.

On the 12 minute mark they were rewarded with a penalty, confidently scored by Black to level the score.

Lenzie came raging back and their speedy wingers could have scored, but for two wonderful try-saving tackles in each corner by full back Black.

His example spurred the Burgh side on and a period of consistent pressure with Meadwell, Sloan, Cairns and Calderwood in the van saw Musset drive over for the opening try.

Black’s conversion took the Greens to a 10-3 lead and a further Black penalty shortly after saw the gap extended to 13-3.

Welsh then tidied up well deep in his 22 and a good Cameron tackle in midfield, followed by some excellent driving play from Sloan, saw Helensburgh awarded a further penalty on the 38 minute mark.

Once again Black was up to the task and the successful kick opened up a good lead at 16-3.

This was short lived, however, as the Lenzie side came surging back just on the half-time whistle and a tapped penalty led to a soft try just wide of the Burgh’s posts.

The successful conversion took the half-time score to Lenzie 10, Helensburgh 16.

The second period saw lots of frantic effort from both sides, with Walker and Musset prominent in Burgh breaks which came to nothing, and no points for long spells of pressure.

Many of the Greens’ moves seemed over-elaborate and inevitably there were handling errors in midfield.

Burgh had one glorious opportunity to increase their lead when a penalty was awarded on the 22, but inexplicably, given Black’s 100 per cent record, Burgh elected to run the ball and were turned over and the chance was gone.

The game was then marred by a terrible injury to Burgh hooker Floyd who, following a great upfield surge, was tackled.

It was immediately obvious that he was seriously hurt and he was taken to the Royal Infirmary with a suspected broken leg.

This incident led Burgh to introduce young Sean McNee for his first team debut and he showed what an emerging talent he is by slotting in like a veteran.

From yet another spilled midfield ball, Lenzie picked up and transferred the ball quickly to their speedy left winger, who ran in unopposed in the corner to take the score to Lenzie 15, Burgh 16. The conversion was missed.

Substitute M Sloan came on for Cameron in the centre and as the clock ran down Lenzie threw everything in to their attack.

From another penalty they kicked themselves into the lead with only five minutes remaining.

In the last minute Burgh, as ever not having given up, drove into the home half and won a penalty which could have snatched victory, but sadly Black’s kick drifted low and wide, to the accompaniment of some bad sporting booing from a small element of the home crowd.

If Burgh are to go for promotion they must not squander chances to put sides away when they are ahead, but hopefully the experience at Lenzie may have taught them a rather painful lesson.

The club extends its best wishes to hooker Floyd.

Helensburgh: Melbourne, Floyd, Gard, McInroy, Calderwood, N Sloan (capt), Musset, Gibson Walker, McGrath, Welsh, Cairns, Cameron, Meadwell, Black. Subs. M Sloan, McNee, Rodger.

Burgh remain third in the league despite the loss and this weekend they face Newton Stewart at Ardencaple, with the visitors currently sitting fourth in the table. The match kicks-off at 3pm.

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