Published: Friday, 30th November, 2007 17:15
Border blues
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Hawick YM 63 Helensburgh 7
GRIM READING: Burgh struggled to cope with the far heaver Hawick pack.
THE result in the Borders was as grim as the weather on a rainy, cold and blustery day as Helensburgh were well and truly sunk by a very strong and accomplished Hawick side.
They now clearly top the league and on this performance are arguably the best side in it by some way.
Helensburgh’s slim chances were not helped when the team coach apparently took the scenic route to Hawick and arrived at Mansfield only twenty minutes before kick off.
Hardly the ideal preparation but the young Burgh team started brightly with the wind behind them.
Hawick kicked off but a good take by Walker allowed McGrath to put in a sound clearance which was followed by a strong run by winger Rodgers.
From a penalty in the Hawick half Gowrie kicked to the corner but the resulting lineout was lost and the chance gone.
The huge Hawick pack outweighing Burgh by at least two stone per man then drove the Greens back more then twenty metres before spinning the ball wide where Helensburgh just held them out.
As the pressure built, a Hawick penalty in the 22 was converted to give the home the lead after seven minutes.
From this point, Hawick almost immediately worked the ball right where, despite excellent tackling by McCrimmon playing his first game at open side flanker, they scored out wide.
On the twenty minute mark, despite the Greens showing great spirit the home side were awarded another penalty and converted it to lead 11-nil.
Hawick spilled the resultant kick off and Burgh at last managed to apply some pressure with Black kicking to the corner.
From the lineout, a scrum was awarded and the ever active Walker tackled the home scrum half on the line, but eventually the lines were cleared.
A string of penalties awarded by the Border referee was clearly frustrating Helensburgh and finally Gard was yellow carded for a second offence leaving the Greens with only 14 men against physically superior opponents.
McIntyre replaced Bain to give front row cover but the inevitable happened when the Greens were driven over their line to take the score to 18-0 with the try converted.
As half time beckoned, a Gowrie clearance was charged down and the ball hacked ahead to the corner. From the line out Hawick moved it quickly and scored under the posts with little evidence of any midfield defence.
The try was converted and the half time score was an ominous Hawick 30 Helensburgh nil.
The second half was much of the same, but even with the huge home lead, the referee made some inexplicable decisions in not yellow carding home players for both the use of the boot and fists. He gave lengthy lectures but did not produce a card which made Gard’s dismissal even more controversial.
For the ten minutes Burgh held out manfully but then quite simply the much heavier and more skilful home side began to score again at regular intervals.
There were, however, some spirited individual thrusts, namely from McNee, McCrimmon, Walker and also Black.
McIntyre and Meadwell replaced Bain and Tyson but Hawick were showing great ball skills at pace in the poor conditions and scored some excellent tries.
At 54—0 with a penalty count of 11-2 against them, the Greens showed their never say die spirit and McGrath with a good side step nearly made the line. The smaller Greens pack made several drives before Captain Chris Black sliced through for a deserved consolation try. Gowrie converted to make the score 54-7 but Hawick were soon rewarded again by the referee who allowed them a blatantly forward pass to close the game out.
In the league of death which is National Division 3 – three teams are relegated and the fourth bottom has to play off against the league winners from the lower divisions to retain their place.
With Helensburgh in third bottom position and six points adrift of the two teams above, much remains to be done, but coach McIntrye has certainly installed spirit in his side, exemplified on the day in particular by Walker, McNee and new boy McCrimmon.
On Saturday at 2pm, Burgh are at home to Lasswade who are in the promotion battle so a sizeable crowd would be helpful.
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