Fine Burgh show, but no bonus point

Oct 17 2008 by Laura McLachlan, Lennox Herald

HELENSBURGH romped to a huge victory over Ross High on Saturday – but just missed out on that all-important bonus point.

Helensburgh started the game with the breeze behind them on a drying pitch, and dominated early territory, but the bulky Ross High pack maintained control in the tight.

The referee dished out penalties to both sides, and that gave neither team any flow to their game. The home side were the more enterprising in attack, with Black, Holmes and Tyson eager to find a way past the opposition, but unforced errors saw these attacks break down.

A change in tactics saw Gibson pick up and drive deep into the Ross High half, where the referee penalised the visitors for a high tackle.

Chris Black’s penalty opened the scoring with 20 minutes played. Gard came on to replace Drake in the front row.

Tyson fielded a high ball and ran intelligently at the opposition to feed an agile Walker who beat the first line of defence and release McNee to sprint for the line. Diminutive McNee managed to pass out of the tackle to the supporting MacCrimmond who crossed the try line, and Black’s conversion took the score to 10-0.

Pressure from Burgh in the visitors half resulted in Black slotting over a second penalty for infringements at the breakdown.

The visitors continued to compete, but Frame broke from the base of a ruck to find Inglis, before Calderwood laid off to release Stevie Walker.

Walker, with pace and a series of sidesteps, broke inside and touched down. The conversion drifted wide as the referee blew for half time with the score 18-0.

The Ross High restart kick did not travel the statutory 10 metres, but as the half progressed the away side began to stamp some authority on the match.

Continued drives provided them with good field position and a quick pick-up by their scrum half allowed him to outwit the home defence and run in for a well-taken try. The conversion slotted between the uprights to close the score with only seven minutes of the second half played.

The home side then appeared to lose direction and this allowed the visitors the run of the paddock for about 15 minutes with a number of attacks coming close.

Their sole reward was a penalty for offside by the Burgh backs. This kick was slotted over to further narrow the score to 18-10 as the contest moved into the final quarter.

Running strongly out of defence, Riding finally took play into the visitors 22 to launch a number of attacks. A strong Helensburgh forward rumble, led by Calderwood, saw Watt take the ball on the burst to drive over for try number three.

The conversion was slotted between the posts to take the score to 25-10.

Helensburgh had left things late to grab the all-important bonus point and as the game went into injury time, a concerted attack, led by Riding, saw the ball through forwards and backs.

However, a spilled pass five metres from the line saw the chance of that extra point slip away.

This Saturday, October 18, will see Helensburgh on the road to Forfar to take on one of the league’s top teams, Strathmore.

Helensburgh: Tyson, Rettie, Riding, Holmes, Walker, Frame, Black, Drake, McNee, McInroy, Inglis, Calderwood, McCrimmon, Watt, Gibson. Subs:Gard, Sommerville, Cairns.