Helensburgh suffer defeat to Allan Glens

Nov 14 2008 by Laura McLachlan, Lennox Herald (main ed)

HELENSBURGH suffered a massive defeat to recently relegated Allan Glens on Saturday.

Midge McGrath kicked off into the breeze and Burgh were awarded an immediate penalty as the ball receiver did not release in the tackle.

This kick drifted wide, but from the restart the home side took play quickly into the Burgh 22 and were awarded a penalty for offside. This saw Allan Glens open the scoring with less than five minutes played.

The Bishopbriggs club dominated possession, pinning Burgh into their own half but Helensburgh were keen to run out of defence .

With 15 minutes played, Inglis won a good line out ball on the half way and quick delivery to Holmes saw him break the defence and deliver to Walker.

He has recently played at wing three quarter but was in his regular position at scrum half but with a blistering show of pace down the touch line outran the defence for the opening try.

The home side responded confidently, although the Burgh were still pressing until Glens won set piece ball in their own half.

They chose not to kick, but a neat break by their inside centre saw him make good ground and slick interplay saw the home side out-fox the Burgh cover for their young full back to run in near the posts. The conversion slid between the posts.

With the first half drawing to a close, Helensburgh pressed in the Glens’ 22 but couldn’t find a way past a strong defence line when an opportunistic fly hack by Glens put the ball behind the Helensburgh defence.

The retreating Helensburgh cover failed to stop the foot rush and Glens’ wingman scooped the ball to run in and touch down below the posts for a soft but timely try.

This was converted to take the score at the half time whistle to Allan Glens 17 Helensburgh 5.

With 15 minutes of the second period played, Helensburgh were camping in the opposition 22 but again were having difficulty finding a way in when the opposition intercepted the attacking ball and punted it down field.

They were awarded a free kick where the ball landed and with some quick thinking, broke through the static Burgh defence to touch down wide to extend the score.

As the game drew to a close, the alert Glens’ backs sliced through the bemused Helensburgh defence to touch down under the posts.

The bonus try was converted to take the final score to Allan Glens 29 Helensburgh 5.

Helensburgh : Tyson : A.Rodgers, Riding, Holmes, Cairns, MacGrath, Walker, McInroy, McNee, Gard, Calderwood, Brown, Watt, Inglis, Sommerville. Subs: Musset, Drake, Gibson.