Hillhead Jordanhill 31 points | Orkney 12 points

ON A FINE SPRING MORNING, watched by a sizeable crowd of former players attending the 30^th anniversary lunch, Hills end of season revival continued in their defeat of a spirited Orkney side by three goals and two tries to one goal and one try. Hills excelled in the first half with their willingness to play an open game, playing up the slope to the clubhouse end. Although Orkney enjoyed scrum domination in the first forty minutes, they were unable to stitch together many periods of continuity play such was the commitment and first time tackling of the Hills midfield and fringe defences. Scrum half Alex Gibbons was the catalyst for Hills first score when he stole Orkney ball at the base of a scrum to initiate a long range attack with the ball being handed well by the three quarters to take play into the Orkney twenty two. Open side Scott McMiillan then drove on, offloading to no. 8 Conor Ferguson who then expertly fed inside for rampaging second row Chris Warnock to crash over the line unopposed. Rory Harte’s conversion rattled the post, but the Hills were up and running. Their second try was not long delayed and Rory Harte was the prime mover here, first of all feeding the insatiable Chris Warnock who made a large dent in the Orkney defensive line. Quick repossession from the ruck allowed Rory space on the blind side to float a long pass to unmarked right winger Ash Rajasooriya to score in the corner. Rory Harte added the goal points with a fine conversion across the face of the posts. Some slack play from the Hills pack in their own half then allowed Orkney into the game and they scored a rather easy try to the left of the posts but missed the conversion. This stung the Hills back into action and several sweeping movements up the slope with Preston “Mighty Atom” McGoldrick, Craig Colvin and the ubiquitous Chris Warnock all influential allowed Scott Halliday sufficient room to squeeze over the in the left hand corner to score. On the balance of play, the half time score of seventeen points to five was fair.

Any hopes that Orkney harboured of narrowing the gap between the sides quickly evaporated at the start of the second half. An intense Hills attack in the visitors’ twenty two with “The Mighty Atom” and Scott McMillan prominent produced some desperate defensive work from Orkney. A clearance kick was charged down by the alert Rory Harte who picked up the loose ball to score and then convert his own try. Hills now had their four try bonus point, but they continued to chase hard for more points. Once again quick distribution stretched the visitors defence but Jonny Hamilton-Potter still had some work to do before he could touch down for his side’s fifth and final try of the game. Rory Harte added goal points to take his side to thirty one points to seven ahead with the game entering the final quarter. Orkney however remained determined to make some mark on the game and finally found some form to put together some pleasing phases of continuity play to pressurise the home defence. Hills did not help their cause with two players being sent to the bin, but although Orkney added a try which they converted, the Hills were out of sight and the game finished with referee Greg Cameron’s whistle blowing up with a score of thirty one points to twelve in their favour.

This was a much happier Hills performance than those served up during the bleak midwinter months when nothing seemed to go right. Now the 1^st XV squad and their coaches, Dean Kelbrick and Graham Blackhall, can look forward with some confidence to the final two games of the 2018/2019 season, both away. On the 30^th March the 1^st XV play Murrayfield Wanderers at Roseburn Gardens while on the 6^th April they play at Memorial Field against old rivals, Ardrossan Accies.

Hillhead Jordanhill 33 points | Caithness 6 points

IN A MUST-WIN GAME for the home team, Hills responded to poor weather conditions and a stuffy visiting Caithness side to record a fine thirty-three points to six victory and thereby secure five valuable league points in their quest to maintain national league rugby status at Hughenden. The first half found Hills playing up the slope and they were quickly into their stride with captain and full back Craig Colvin showing the way with some excellent broken play running. Bill “The Ballyclare Bruiser” Kenny drove play into the visitors twenty-two where, after three quick recycling activities, Captain Colvin crossed for the opening try with right winger Rory Harte converting.

The dynamic opening, combining hard running with ball in hand and quick repossession from the breakdown, was a prominent feature of Hills play for most of the opening forty minutes and little scope was available to Caithness to counter-attack. When they did, Hills’ first up tackling, particularly around the fringes of the breakdown, was imperious with Alec Cameron the chief defensive enforcer. Scott Halliday added a second close-range try with Rory Harte converting and the mercurial right winger added a third when he ghosted through an all-but-invisible gap in the Caithness defence to score between the posts. The conversion was a formality and Hills were twenty-one points up and seemingly cruising, but Caithness, in a very rare excursion to the Hills’ danger area, opened their score with a well-struck penalty goal on the stroke of half time.

The third quarter saw Hills lose two players to the bin and subsequently assume a siege mentality to keep the visitors out. Once again Hills defended wilfully, but Caithness kicked another penalty goal and tensions began to mount on the field and among the animated home support. The return to a full complement and a change in the shape of the midfield engineered by deputy coach Douglas Grove restored equilibrium. Rory Harte took over the pivotal role at 10 and Jonny Hamilton-Potter added direction to the HIlls attack. The fourth try relied exclusively on Rory Harte’s field craft. An attacking play took the game into the Caithness twenty two when the stand-off looked up, saw a gap in the visitors cover, chipped ahead into the space and beat the defenders to the touch down. His magnificent conversion, across the face of the wind from the right hand touch line, was an impressive further contribution to his personal triumph. Hills then saw out the rest of the final quarter in some degree of comfort. Caithness were by now visibly tiring, and Hills held on to the ball well. Some excellent box kicking from scrum half Alex Gibbons kept the visitors in their twenty-two and from a series of rucks in which replacement Moncere was prominent, Gibbons scored the teams fifth try in the corner.

This game produced the first four try bonus point for Hills since the 16th November, some seven national league fixtures ago. Hills winter of discontent is, however, far from over. Three games remain and the situation is so tight at the foot of NL3 (three clubs are relegated) that two of these three games carry the same significance as this in being must-win fixtures. Hills next game is against ARDROSSAN ACADEMICALS at Memorial Field, Ardrossan, on the 16th March with a 14.00 KO.

Hills 1st XV

15 Craig Colvin (C)

14 Rory Harte (Ash Rajasooriya)

13 Scott Halliday

12 Damien Gennochio (James Hamilton-Potter)

11 Albain De Chaille (Damien Gennochio)

10 Hugo Gesta (Rory Harte)

9 Alex Gibbons

1 Adam Eakin

2 Harry Perston

3 Martyn Low (Mylo Connell)

4 Alec Cameron (Hy Moncere)

5 Bill Kenny

6 Conor Ferguson

7 Scott McMillan

8 Preston McGoldrick

(Subs all used)

Hillhead Jordanhill 7 points | West of Scotland 61 points

THIS WAS NOT A MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE for either the players or supporters of Hillhead Jordanhill RFC. Three Hills players received head knocks forcing their retirement from the game and one of these, right winger Ash Rajasooriya, required hospitalisation. Happily he was discharged at 18.00 on Saturday evening from hospital but, like his two other colleagues, he is now subject to return to play protocols. Even allowing for all the disruptions to the Hills, local visitors West were stronger in most facets of the game with the only area where Hills achieved any parity being on the touchlines, where lock James Acheson and back-row Conor Ferguson retained all their own ball. West seemed to be able to employ higher gears to spread the play and always seemed able to put men into space on the outside channels which Hills could not cope with.

In a very one-sided first half, West raced to a 34 points lead scoring six tries, one a penalty try, before Rory Harte with a wonderful sense of timing intercepted another West attack to race eighty metres unchallenged to score. A half time margin of 34-7 in favour of West was, frustratingly for Hills, a fair refection of the flow of the game.

In the second half, Hills showed much more spirit with second rower Bill Kenny at the heart of most of the attacking plays. Some continuity of phases was put together but the West defence held firm. It was left to James Hamilton-Potter to show the way across the gain line but his two fine breaks fizzled out due to lack of support. Certainly West had to work a bit harder for their second half tries, but only a myopic Hills supporter could deny the visitors their success in finishing sixty one points to seven ahead.

It is to be hoped that there will be a huge turnaround collectively for the next league game against PERTHSHIRE at the NORTH INCH on SATURDAY 26^th JANUARY. Hills are now edging uncomfortably close to the basement trap door to Regional Rugby, which a win next week would help the team avoid.

Newton Stewart 53 points | Hillhead Jordanhill 7 points

AS FIRST FOOTS in the rural fastness of Bladnoch in Galloway, Hills made little impression on a lively Newton Stewart side in this rearranged National League 3 league game. A half time deficit of twenty four points was exacerbated by a further concession of scores in the second period of play with the visitors conceding nine tries in total in the game. The solitary counter for Hills came from a well worked miss move involving stand off Ewen Brown and centre, Rory Harte, which resulted in Brown scoring and then converting his own try. That took the score to 36 points to 7 in favour of the ‘Sons’. Any hope of a resurgence for the Hills was dashed however, and Newton returned to their fast counter attacking game in the loose to which the visitors had no answer.

Hills play in general matched the grey, cold day in Galloway with only a few bright spots. The scrummage was sound and in fact pushed the Newton pack around, but little could be made of what go forward ball was delivered. Scott McMillan played well as an emergency centre and Craig Colvin tackled well at the back, while Chris Crome was whole hearted in his efforts. Collectively, however, Hills chose the first start in 2019 to produce a well below par performance.

It is to be hoped that there will be a huge turnaround collectively for the next league game against GORDONIANS in ABERDEEN when they visit Counteswells on SATURDAY 12^th JANUARY.

Report & Picture: BBM