GHA RFC MATCH 235: HOWE OF FIFE RFC 23 – 8 GHA RFC 

2011/2012: Scottish Premiership Three

HOWE OF FIFE RFC 

 GHA RFC

E. Jack15R. McClymont
C. Dow14R. Jericevich
A. Guthrie13H. O’Hare
F. Clark12A. Henderson (c)
G. Imrie11J. Brogan
D. Martin10C. Sorbie
S. Lathangie9A. Gillman
G. Steedman1S. Spowart
M. Keeble2I. Nelson
G. Henderson3M. Kidd
C. McBain4A. Barnett
T. Turpie5J. Auld
B. Runciman6N. Cassie
I. Wilson7A. Auld
(c) C. Mason8J. Pinder
S. Player16C. Landsburgh
A. Honeyman17S. Fisher
C. Rintoul18M. Houston
M. Daly19D. Dunn
TryPinder
Con
PenBrogan
DG
Referee
Mr D. Parrott (RFU)

 

Congratulations to Howe of Fife who secured the last ever Premier 3 Championship with a hard fought win over GHA at Cupar on Saturday.

This match had been billed as a ‘Cup Final’ and so it proved. GHA dominated the first half in a physical encounter but were left to rue a host of missed chances as they entered the half time break with only a narrow 8-3 lead for their efforts. GHA’s try was scored by Number 8 Jamie Pinder after blind side flanker Niall Cassie broke clear of GHA rolling maul on the Howe 22m line. The blindside winger managed to tackle Niall just short but Pinder was there as always to pick up and dive over.

The first 10 minutes of the second half were a tight affair as Howe looked to get themselves back into the game. The turning point came as GHA lost both Niall Cassie and Jamie Pinder to the sin bin within a minute of each other. Down to 13 men, the GHA defense was under constant pressure but stood solid and only shipped the two penalties to Howe of Fife for the sin binning infringements. This meant that with GHA back to full compliment and a little over 15 minutes left on the clock, Howe held a 9-8 lead.

Then came the sucker punch when Howe scored two tries inside two minutes. The first was a debatable effort when the Howe player appeared to knock on what looked like a forward pass but the second was a great individual finish from the Howe left wing who took a cut off of the Howe full back on the half way line and made a clean line break before chipping GHA full back Ross McClymont and winning the race for the touchdown. Both trys were converted to leave GHA 23 points to 8 adrift and clearly shellshocked. The remainder of the game was a more open affair as both teams begun to throw the ball about and the fatigue of the encounter began to tell in both defences. But despite some close calls, neither side were able to cross the whitewash and so Howe secured the victory and the Championship with GHA finishing in second.

Next Saturday sees the newly crowned champions visit Braidholm for the final game of the season for what promises to be an exciting exhibition game between the league’s top 2 sides. We hope to have a big crowd down to see the season off in style.

Source: Bill McMurtrie

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