P6 - Report
Date: Saturday 19th January 2013 - Kick Off: 14:15
Heineken Cup HT
Attendance: 4193
| Strathaven | 1 | vs | 3 | Howe of Fife |
P6 Battle Howe of Fife in Heineken Cup HT Thriller Sat 19th Jan
P6 do Strathaven proud against tough Fifers
P6 had the honour of playing at Scotstoun Stadium in a half-time game against Howe of Fife during the Glasgow Warriors v Northampton Saints Heineken Cup match on Saturday 19th January. A good crowd of nearly 4200 had turned out for the main event with the added bonus of seeing the Glasgow and Northampton match on the same day. P6 had a full turn-out of all 15 boys on what was a bitterly cold afternoon at Scotstoun.
Boys from Howe of Fife and West of Scotland joined the Strathaven P6 to form a guard of honour for the Glasgow and Northampton teams as they came on to the pitch for the start of the Cup game.
Despite the 1335 hrs kick-off the floodlights were at full capacity. Northampton were looking for a good start, but Courtney Lawes gave away a penalty after 30 seconds which Ruaridh Jackson duly booted between the posts to give Glasgow an early three-point advantage. Despite pressure from the visitors, Glasgow's lead was doubled thanks to Jackson's right boot 10 minutes later. Stephen Myler pulled it back to 6-3 with a simple penalty for Saints moments later, before Northampton almost secured the first of the four tries they would have needed for a bonus-point victory. Jamie Elliott dashed to the left corner, only to be blocked off within touching distance of the line.
Northampton dominated in the early stages, however it brought them little reward. Niko Matawalu's tenacity at scrum-half epitomised Glasgow's spirit. Northampton eventually broke through after 30 minutes when a charging run from Dom Waldouck opened up the Glasgow defence and he scored under the posts, with Myler converting with ease. With Jackson injured for Glasgow, replacement fly-half Scott Wight's first involvement was a difficult penalty attempt from 40 metres which failed to find the target. By that stage the home crowd was growing increasingly frustrated by Welsh referee Leighton Hodges' reluctance to play advantage, and the 10-6 lead at half-time for Northampton hardly helped to temper the frustration.
As the Glasgow and Northampton players went inside the crowd could hardly contain themselves as the Strathaven and Howe boys took to the field for the premier match of the day. With temperatures dropping close to freezing there was no chance for a warm-up but with the benefit of undersoil heating the pitch was in good, playable condition. Both teams looked to Referee Kenny Blair to do a better job than Hodges had in playing advantage.
Howe won the toss and went on the attack straight from the off. Fielding some very large players in the team of 10 from their overall squad of 30, double the size of Strathaven's, Howe used the big lads to the utmost in every move. Strathaven defended well right from the start, working together to try and stop the huge boys advance up the pitch. There wasn't too much dynamism in the play with weight and brute force being the mainstay of most Howe moves on the narrower pitch. Strathaven did their best in the breakdowns but the power advantage of Howe came to the fore in every ruck and Strathaven struggled to win the ball at these plays.
Trying to move the ball about to the faster, nimbler players, Strathaven got some possession just inside their own half. Moving the ball out to Duncan Campbell, playing right wing, he broke free into space and sped down the wing to score the opening try in the right hand corner; the Howe defence unable to catch him. The crowd went wild. Howe came back immediately with a trademark powerful move right down the centre of the pitch from one of the big guys. Despite several Strathaven players going in for the tackle he just kept going and got the ball down over the Strathaven try-line. The ref had spotted an earlier knock-on however and the try was disallowed. Strathaven won the ball from the resulting scrum and fed it out to Andrew Robertson, playing his preferred Full-Back role. A good clearance kick to over the half-way line gave Strathaven some breathing space as they chased up the park.
Howe again showed their superior strength in a repeat move, this time breaking through the Strathaven defenders and scoring. Another good clearance kick from behind the lines, this time from Lucas Blair prevented another try however it was only a matter of time before the big Howe boys got the ball over again, scoring another two tries in the same fashion. Strathaven did their utmost to defend hard in a real test of tackling and rucking ability. Unable to play a wide, expansive game that suits their faster, more agile players Strathaven did all they could to keep the scoreline down to just 3 tries from Howe in the end. Had this match been on the full-size P6 pitch and over 30 minutes, the Strathaven boys could have given Howe a real run for their money. Regardless, this was a huge effort on an extremely cold day in front of thousands of eager fans. Well done boys, you did the Club proud. Final score Strathaven 1 - 3 Howe of Fife
Squad for the day: - Ben Allan, Lucas Blair, Duncan Campbell, Matthew Dixon, Gregor Hair, Sam Howie, Luke Kennedy, Ross MacDonald, Lachlan McGee (Captain), Oli Moir, Rory Mullen, Tom O'Hara, Andrew Robertson, Gabriel Traill and Ewan Watson.
With the main event over, the crowd were treated to another 40 minutes of Glasgow v Northampton. Glasgow started the second half rejuvenated, taking the lead after 46 minutes through a try from Josh Strauss. The South African flanker's raw power saw him overcome three opponents to reach the Northampton try-line and gave Glasgow a 13-10 lead.
The lead was to last until the hour mark as the quick feet of Samoan George Pisi, Northampton's top try-scorer this season, side-stepped tackles to find his way to the right corner of Glasgow's try-line. The unconverted try was Pisi's sixth of the season, and his third against the Warriors. Glasgow's Matawalu stole the lead yet again from Northampton however the Fijian pinched possession and then ran the 30 metres required to score under the posts, leaving Scott Wight with an easy conversion with 13 minutes left to play.
A late try from Northampton winger Ben Foden brought the scores level at 20-20, despite pleas of obstruction from the crowd. It would be Glasgow that had the final say though thanks to an outstanding solo effort from Peter Horne. With 80 minutes gone and overcoming several tackles from Saints players, Horne powered through to score arguably the best try of his career before booting the conversion himself. Clearly the Glasgow team had taken inspiration from the Strathaven performance.
Strathaven RFC Youth players also had the honour of being Ball Boys for the Heineken Cup match: - Marco Spadaro, Ruaridh McCall, Kyle Dixon,
Jamie Blair, Matthew Campbell, Gordon Moon, Euan Heggie and Sam Park did the honours.
Boys from Howe of Fife and West of Scotland joined the Strathaven P6 to form a guard of honour for the Glasgow and Northampton teams as they came on to the pitch for the start of the Cup game.
Despite the 1335 hrs kick-off the floodlights were at full capacity. Northampton were looking for a good start, but Courtney Lawes gave away a penalty after 30 seconds which Ruaridh Jackson duly booted between the posts to give Glasgow an early three-point advantage. Despite pressure from the visitors, Glasgow's lead was doubled thanks to Jackson's right boot 10 minutes later. Stephen Myler pulled it back to 6-3 with a simple penalty for Saints moments later, before Northampton almost secured the first of the four tries they would have needed for a bonus-point victory. Jamie Elliott dashed to the left corner, only to be blocked off within touching distance of the line.
Northampton dominated in the early stages, however it brought them little reward. Niko Matawalu's tenacity at scrum-half epitomised Glasgow's spirit. Northampton eventually broke through after 30 minutes when a charging run from Dom Waldouck opened up the Glasgow defence and he scored under the posts, with Myler converting with ease. With Jackson injured for Glasgow, replacement fly-half Scott Wight's first involvement was a difficult penalty attempt from 40 metres which failed to find the target. By that stage the home crowd was growing increasingly frustrated by Welsh referee Leighton Hodges' reluctance to play advantage, and the 10-6 lead at half-time for Northampton hardly helped to temper the frustration.
As the Glasgow and Northampton players went inside the crowd could hardly contain themselves as the Strathaven and Howe boys took to the field for the premier match of the day. With temperatures dropping close to freezing there was no chance for a warm-up but with the benefit of undersoil heating the pitch was in good, playable condition. Both teams looked to Referee Kenny Blair to do a better job than Hodges had in playing advantage.
Howe won the toss and went on the attack straight from the off. Fielding some very large players in the team of 10 from their overall squad of 30, double the size of Strathaven's, Howe used the big lads to the utmost in every move. Strathaven defended well right from the start, working together to try and stop the huge boys advance up the pitch. There wasn't too much dynamism in the play with weight and brute force being the mainstay of most Howe moves on the narrower pitch. Strathaven did their best in the breakdowns but the power advantage of Howe came to the fore in every ruck and Strathaven struggled to win the ball at these plays.
Trying to move the ball about to the faster, nimbler players, Strathaven got some possession just inside their own half. Moving the ball out to Duncan Campbell, playing right wing, he broke free into space and sped down the wing to score the opening try in the right hand corner; the Howe defence unable to catch him. The crowd went wild. Howe came back immediately with a trademark powerful move right down the centre of the pitch from one of the big guys. Despite several Strathaven players going in for the tackle he just kept going and got the ball down over the Strathaven try-line. The ref had spotted an earlier knock-on however and the try was disallowed. Strathaven won the ball from the resulting scrum and fed it out to Andrew Robertson, playing his preferred Full-Back role. A good clearance kick to over the half-way line gave Strathaven some breathing space as they chased up the park.
Howe again showed their superior strength in a repeat move, this time breaking through the Strathaven defenders and scoring. Another good clearance kick from behind the lines, this time from Lucas Blair prevented another try however it was only a matter of time before the big Howe boys got the ball over again, scoring another two tries in the same fashion. Strathaven did their utmost to defend hard in a real test of tackling and rucking ability. Unable to play a wide, expansive game that suits their faster, more agile players Strathaven did all they could to keep the scoreline down to just 3 tries from Howe in the end. Had this match been on the full-size P6 pitch and over 30 minutes, the Strathaven boys could have given Howe a real run for their money. Regardless, this was a huge effort on an extremely cold day in front of thousands of eager fans. Well done boys, you did the Club proud. Final score Strathaven 1 - 3 Howe of Fife
Squad for the day: - Ben Allan, Lucas Blair, Duncan Campbell, Matthew Dixon, Gregor Hair, Sam Howie, Luke Kennedy, Ross MacDonald, Lachlan McGee (Captain), Oli Moir, Rory Mullen, Tom O'Hara, Andrew Robertson, Gabriel Traill and Ewan Watson.
With the main event over, the crowd were treated to another 40 minutes of Glasgow v Northampton. Glasgow started the second half rejuvenated, taking the lead after 46 minutes through a try from Josh Strauss. The South African flanker's raw power saw him overcome three opponents to reach the Northampton try-line and gave Glasgow a 13-10 lead.
The lead was to last until the hour mark as the quick feet of Samoan George Pisi, Northampton's top try-scorer this season, side-stepped tackles to find his way to the right corner of Glasgow's try-line. The unconverted try was Pisi's sixth of the season, and his third against the Warriors. Glasgow's Matawalu stole the lead yet again from Northampton however the Fijian pinched possession and then ran the 30 metres required to score under the posts, leaving Scott Wight with an easy conversion with 13 minutes left to play.
A late try from Northampton winger Ben Foden brought the scores level at 20-20, despite pleas of obstruction from the crowd. It would be Glasgow that had the final say though thanks to an outstanding solo effort from Peter Horne. With 80 minutes gone and overcoming several tackles from Saints players, Horne powered through to score arguably the best try of his career before booting the conversion himself. Clearly the Glasgow team had taken inspiration from the Strathaven performance.
Strathaven RFC Youth players also had the honour of being Ball Boys for the Heineken Cup match: - Marco Spadaro, Ruaridh McCall, Kyle Dixon,
Jamie Blair, Matthew Campbell, Gordon Moon, Euan Heggie and Sam Park did the honours.
Player Of The Match
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Comments (2)
Douglas Lamb - 4 months agoGreat report ! Kenny was definitely the better referee !
Elizabeth Murphy - 4 months agoWell done guys I hope you all enjoyed your day.Excellent report too.
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