Hillhead Jordanhill 1st XV 10 points Gordonians 1st XV 25 points
At the mid point of this very fast moving National League 3 fixture between its top 2 sides, the scores were tied at 10-10. However the second forty minutes confirmed why Gordonians remained unbeaten after 16 games, as they stretched inexorably away from their hosts to record a 25-10 points victory, taking a 4 try bonus point as well into the bargain.
Yet initially when playing downhill towards the Gartnaval end of the grounds, Hills looked more than a match for their illustrious visitors. The Hills forward pack were solid in the scrums and well organized in their work on the touchline. Hills stand-off and captain, Rory Harte, was lively in his kicking from hand and astute in his use of the ball. It was from his promptings that the first score came. A break up the blind side of a maul resulted in a grubber kick through the advancing defence. Left winger, Michael Thomson , was quickly onto it, picking up and quickly offloading to Adam Eakin, the Hills tight head prop. At close range, the 110kg of prime Ulster beef was unstoppable and the hosts were 5 points up.
However the home support was quickly reminded of the latent menace of Calum Busby, the visitors stand-off, when he picked up a loose pass in midfield, veered to the left wing and accelerated past 3 defenders on his way to scoring an outstanding individual try. More was to follow when he engaged in a loop move with his centre pairing to create space and an extra man out wide for a further score for the visitors. But Hills came back with a copybook driven line out maul thanks to Jonny Agnew’s aerial nous, and hooker, Harry Perston, burrowed over the line to touch down and tie the scores.
Unfortunately for the lively Hills home support that was as good as it got. While there was little advantage either way in the forward battle, Hills could find no way in the second half to penetrate the visiting defence, either on the fringes of the breakdown or the midfield or wider channels, despite their hard work. Gordonians moved the ball at speed and were crisper and more accurate in attack. An early penalty for a midfield offside and then a converted try after 70 minutes took the game well away from the Hills. And their nemesis , Calum Busby, wrapped up the game when, in the final minute, his kick pass to his right winger produced a fine score.
It was no disgrace to lose to the table toppers in what was a very well contested, hard but fairly fought game. Hills now travel to the calmer surroundings of the North Inch at Perth on Saturday March 4th to play Perthshire with a 15.00 KO. All supporters welcome.
