1st XV
This week
17th April 2010
RHC Cougars 1st XV -v- Whitecraigs
KO at 3:00pm at Barnton.
Game Report
14 November 09
RHC Cougars v East Kilbride
15 M Scott 14 G Henderson 13 D Cross 12 D Heslop 11 D Sherman 10 K Watters 9 R Taylor 1 A Hicks 2 D Williamson 3 G Tweeddale 4 C Malcolm 5 E Syzmenski 6 D Crighton 7 F Morrison 8 R montgomery Subs I F Docherty II M Hanning III S Morrison
It was with great trepidation that I again found myself making the short walk to Barnton; the walk itself was of no great concern, I have done it a lot over the years. Rather, the impending match against perennial scrap merchants East Kilbride. The sun was out during my short sojourn up the hill but, as any seasoned Barnton veteran knows, this is just a masquerade that tempts the uninitiated and old romantics into believing that there shall be an absence of wind. The blustery conditions were evident on my arrival; the predictability of the weather was to prove as a salutary lesson in the fine art of clairvoyance: this match yielded 11 points.
The alterations from the previous week were as follows: Fat Duncs came in for his first start since his return from an Atlantic crossing that facilitated him to work with children on one wing, Mikey Scott moved to full back replacing the injured Matty Hicks, Dougie Cross replaced Old Man Aled Jones(what was it like when William Webb Ellis picked up the ball Aled?), Kev Watters came in at 10 and, in the pack, Dave Chrighton came in for Stath.
EK certainly made a start worthy to eradicate the view that this would be akin to trench warfare: scoring within minutes of their kick off with a pushover scrum on the far left hand side of the housing end. A sigh (and possibly an f-bomb) emerged from the injured MVPs that aligned themselves on the sidelines: Matty (broken leg in the previous encounter against Langholm), Stath (dicky shoulder), Gav (body torn apart from ruthless penalty giving), and I (shin splints!). To make matters worse, Mikey Scott was injured whilst making a tackle; perpetual hospital chauffer Gav took Mikey to A&E and on his return he was sporting a nice wee cut on the top of the eye lid. RHC 0 EK 5
The Cougars lacked a buzz in the opening half. Missed tackles that would have been punished by a more clinical opposition were puncturing the defensive game. Unfitness may be the accusation for the amount of walking about that our pack indulged in but perhaps this is an unfair allegation, the wind dictated the type of game that had to be played: kicking. The reliable and accurate tactical kicking from Kev was a welcome addition to the Cougar’s arsenal yet it was unfortunate that this accession coincided with the deterioration of our hitherto strength: the pack. An insipid and lacklustre production from the forwards was a sad succession from the unequivocal dominance that had manifested in previous outings. Questions may be asked of the previous strength of oppositions’ pack but these questions can also be simultaneously asked of our own; yet, in the days of over-analysis, perhaps, and hopefully, this was just a bad day in the office. The realistic assertation is that the EK pack will be one of the strongest that we shall encounter in this league, yet the fact that scrums were being lost against the head and wheeled suggests that the answers may lie in our own technical deficiencies.
Nearing the end of the half Kev successfully converted a penalty. This was then followed by a strong break from Hendo who had come in from his wing and nearly resulted in a try. Having weaved his way through the EK defence in the middle of the field he was adjudged to have knocked on by the official in the act of grounding the ball over the try line. A forest of bodies meant that I shall have to sit on the fence in my analysis of this act. This heralded the end of the first half: RHC 3 EK 5
The second half began with the Cougars looking to overhaul the 2 point deficit. Sadly, as throughout the season, we never truly looked like scoring a try. Hopes were laid in an individual piece of brilliance rather than a team effort. What was pleasing was the effective relationship with Duncs and Han Man, who had come on at the start of the match to replace Mikey Scott at full back. The duo were the only ones who seemed to have read my previous ramblings and were coordinating their kick/chases. What was disillusioning was the chase in the middle of the park. With Duncs and Han Man successfully forcing the opposition to move or pass into the midfield it would have been productive of whoever is in the midfield to press up in a line with them. This repetitive defensive flaw is an aspect of the Cougars’ game that needs to be eradicated. Duncs’ foghorn gob was a welcome attachment to a rather drab affair. The EK 10 had a missile launching boot but RHC were easily repelling their attacks that the effective kicking was allowing them to launch. With about 15 minutes left Kev converted another penalty: RHC 6 EK 5
This was closely followed by an act of careless stupidity, rather than malicious aggressiveness, that resulted in Sunny ensuring 10 minutes off the park and beer monkey duties (never wise on an early kick off). The EK 9 has kicked the ball through on the right hand side and Sunny, a bit too late for it to be deemed in the act of tackling, charged into him with no arms. Some protested but I feel that the yellow card was entirely justified. EK failed to capitalise on their temporary advantage and were in fact to make an infringement that literally shook Barnton: the dump tackling of Kev. The EK player, a modern personification of Hercules, summoned the strength and strained every sinew to dangerously chuck Kev to the turf. Thankfully Kev was fine……the EK player will never walk again. A tense final passage of play saw EK wheel a RHC scrum on our own 22 and, thankfully, missed the resulting drop goal attempt. Final score: RHC 6 EK 5
While no one expected this sequel to be a rumbustious affair (the opener of the season had produced a 3 all draw) it was disappointing that we never looked like taking control of the game in the opponents’ final third. As soon as we got close to the try line we got a severe case of try line fever and we would make a mistake. The ball retention in the final third was not of an adequate strength and in this crucial area of the park we consistently gave away possession. In a game where we had a rather torrid affair in the set piece, our lineout was not as effective as previously and our scrum was getting obliterated, it was down to the reliable boot of Kev to ensure that we at least attempted to play away from our own half. EK had a simple game plan that was based on their 10’s mammoth boot and in all honesty they never looked like threatening our try line after their initial capitalisation our own sleepy start. This match summarised the current plight of the team: don’t look like conceding, don’t look like scoring.
Pows
New Seasons Fixtures
2009 / 2010
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