Well, again, at some point before now, on a Saturday, Morgan came to Fortress Hughenden to take on the mighty Hills. Mid-table Morgan have had an average start to the season, and as shown last year are capable of good things, so this game was a potential trip-up for a Hills team who’ve been closing out games without being spectacular.
From the stand it was good to see Marty back in the fold after a run of injuries plaguing his early season. There’s a lot of competition among the impressive Hills pack these days, playing more of a back 5 than a back 3 with quick dynamic players in the “Row”, Hills have been playing a high tempo game with the opposition having trouble keeping up.
So off to a fantabulous start we emerged, a wee smidgen late, from the clubhouse to see some good play between Fireman Stu and Dan-dan to feed a flying Dougie Crichton who whizzed past like a little quartered blur, on his way to running in a try from about 4 miles out, leaving Morgan players scattered in his wake. Morgan looked to come back from this early set-back, but faced with a scary Hills winger their overlap was lost to a fumbley-fumblerson knock-on, one of the few times when a quick fumble is not regarded a success…
The early score was a view of things to come, and Hills were quickly on the up, looking fresh and creative through the backs, with unrelenting quick, tough play up front from the forwards. The unfortunate loss of Cammy McCulloch, who’s had a good solid start to the season, to a shoulder injury saw a reshuffle in the backs. Dan-dan stepped up to the plate and slotted in at 10, with newbie Archie finalising this makeshift Hills back line.
Dan certainly did his bit at 10 looking dangerous on the ball, bossing the backs to release some impressive moves, leading to lots more scores. Newish winger Andy Leslie – the boy with the most beautiful hair – also deserves a mention for some good positive running, he linked well with the other backs, came off his wing, and made inroads into the Morgan defence. Rosey was influential as ever, winning ball in the loose. Vinnie had a few good runs, and the tactical replacement that saw the Goulden boy take to the field couldn’t have been better timed. The lifted Morgan pack encountered some solid close-quarters tackling and unstoppable running from the tight 5, making ground quickly, giving Haddon good clean ball to play with.
The young scrum-half had another good game, and is getting up to pace with the scrumhalf fitness, Newsteam was witness to some very welcome, entertaining hand-bags between the scrumhalfs at scrum time. Well done to young Haddon, we likes this.
Lots of points were scored, with an eventual scoreline of 55-6 the boys were looking good going into a hard few weeks of league action. Keith was impressed with the performance and was seen flashing his colgate smile post-match, the boys done good.
And with that smile the accolade of Chosen One this week goes to the very deserving Dan Witko, who looked impressive at 13, and stepped up a gear with his switch to 10 to run the show. With a try of his own, some dangerous running, good creative rugby from 10, solid defence and great organisation to keep the boys focussed and on track Dan-dan impressed the boss man this week. Also, as some of you may know the beautiful Dan features as a Scottish Rugby poster boy on some promotional SRU material, keep a spy out for him, gunshow and all.
Ladies choice this week, awarded to someone who came on and made a difference, and who has the added bonus quality of mystery, being a Hills newbie, goes to Archie. Well done boyo.
Chump of the week this week goes to a certain member of the Hills media team who accidentally left the first ever Radio Hughenden interview unrecorded as his phone technology got the better of him. Radio Hughenden may well feature as a Christmas Special, once we’ve pinned down our interviewees…any requests or ideas send them our way. So chump of the week, in the interests of anonymity we will not be pointing any fingers, in any particular Stuart Munro shaped direction…
