Last-minute kick boots Helensburgh Rugby Club towards the drop

Mar 27 2009 by Andy Galloway, Lennox Herald (main ed)

LIKE Loch Lomond, Helensburgh travelled to Ayrshire, but their trip down the coast to play Marr in Troon ended in disappointment.

A last-gasp penalty saw the home side take the points by the narrowest of margins, after Burgh had shaken off a bad start and got themselves ahead of their hosts.

Marr’s stand-off ran in an early try, which was converted, and then added a penalty which meant the home side led 10-0 with less than 15 minutes gone.

Helensburgh were desperate to get into the game and a run out of defence by Phil Rogers, supported by Owen Macinroy, Joel Hammond and Shaun MacNee, took play into the Marr red zone for the first time but Helensburgh were penalised for hands in the ruck.

A big kick from Riding took play up into the opposition half and a turnover at the maul gave Helensburgh another chance.

An inside break by Stewart Holmes gave Ali Rogers the opportunity to run in for a well-deserved try. Riding’s conversion scraped over the bar to put his team firmly back in the game.

Then a quick ball to Riding saw him put in a high cross kick and this was chased down by Johnnie Drake for an important try just before half time. The conversion drifted wide but the visitors were in the lead for the first time with the score at 12-10.

Marr converted a penalty eight minutes into the second half to restore their lead, meaning nerves were frayed on both sides.

Watt and Hammond then set up a ruck to win a penalty. This was scored by Riding to reinstate Helensburgh as front runners at 15-13.

The game ran beyond the allotted 80 and with three minutes of injury time played, Helensburgh were penalised some 35 metres out for offside at the breakdown as Marr were going forward.

The Marr kicker had missed three earlier easy attempts in the second period, but the finger of fate was pointing at a brave Burgh squad as the kick was converted to take the final score to a bitter 16-15.

This result leaves the Helensburgh squad flirting with relegation again. They are fourth from bottom of the table, on the same points as Gordonians, but above them on bonus points.

Below both of them are Lismore and Grangemouth, and they do have an away fixture with the latter as one of their four remaining games. However, they have played both Lismore and Gordonians twice, so they will have to take points from teams above them to be sure of survival.

Starting this Saturday, when they have a home game against Allan Glens who have survived an earlier defeat by Burgh on their own ground to move up to third in the table, challenging for promotion.

With their current commitment and a fair rub of the green in those four games there is every hope that the Burgh squad can yet find a way out of trouble.

Helensburgh: A Rogers, J Drake, P Rogers, S Holmes, J Rettie, D Riding, S Walker, MacInroy, McNee, A Drake, Hammond, Inglis, Watt, Sommerville, Gibson. Subs:Floyd, Feltham, Campbell.