On a beautiful late summer afternoon Garnock made the short trip to Newton Mearns to face Whitecraigs. Both teams had won their opening league match and went into the match with a positive mindset.
The Garnock squad saw a number of changes from the previous week with Rory Walker, Connor Wilson and Richard O’Neill unavailable due to holidays or injury while Ewan Perry, Ally Anderson, David Miller and Fraser Miller returned following work commitments, long-term injury and unavailability.
From the early exchanges it was clear that the strong Garnock pack had the upper hand in the set piece . The first score of the game came from this dominance when following a close range lineout Garnock set up a driving maul and scrum half Tony Woods was able to burrow over. The conversion was wide 0-5
Ten minutes later Garnock were once again in the Whitecraigs 22 applying pressure through the pack. Following a number of phases the ball was released to the backs and centre Rory Dominy cut a sublime line to score between the uprights. Conversion good 0-12
Despite the initial setbacks Whitecraigs were certainly not disheartened and tried to run the ball whenever possible in an effort to tire the Garnock pack. They also made an early change to the front row to try and shore up their out-muscled scrum.
Following a spell in the Garnock half the home stand-off made a neat break before slipping the ball to his supporting centre to score. Conversion successful 7-12.
With the first half drawing to a close Garnock again set up camp in the home 22. They elected to kick a close range penalty to touch and from the resulting lineout set up a driving maul from which flanker, Stuart Wilson broke free to score. Conversion good 7-12
The referee blew for half-time without any further change to the score. In truth it was a fairly scrappy first half with both sides penalised by the referee on a regular basis.
The home side came out of the break full of intent and scored two tries in the first ten minutes both of which were converted to take the lead 21-19. This setback appeared to awaken the Garnock side from their slumber and they again worked their way upfield before being awarded a penalty in front of the posts. The kick was successful giving Garnock back the lead 21-22.
The following 15 minutes were scoreless mainly due to the number of penalties being awarded against both teams which prevented the game having any real flow.
From one of the many penalties Garnock elected to kick for goal taking the score to 21-25. With 10 minutes remaining the visitors kicked yet another penalty to the corner. The line out was successful and with Whitecraigs expecting a driving maul the ball was shipped to stand-off Keir Walker who broke through a tackle to score. Conversion successful 21-32
With time running out and Whitecraigs desperate to add to their points the Garnock defence switched off allowing the home side to score in the corner. Conversion wide 26-32.
At that point the referee advised “final play” and at the first ruck following the restart Garnock were awarded a penalty which was tapped and kicked to touch bringing the game to a close.
This was not Garnock’s finest performance however a victory and try bonus from a difficult trip to Whitecraigs is very welcome.
Garnock squad :- M Shiells, J Chapman, L Wynn, J Watson, A Miller, S Wilson, D Ramsay-Millar, R Brocket, T Woods, K Walker, J Reekie, R Dominy I Waterston, A Anderson, E Perry Replacements (all used) A Armstrong, F Miller, D Miller, S Wynn
