GARNOCK VICTORS AT CAMBUSLANG REPORTED BY TOM DICKSON.
Garnock travelled to Cambuslang on a wet Saturday in their latest quest for league points. Cambuslang kicked off in the heavy rain but the kick found touch on the Garnock left side. The lineout was won by Garnock and the pack drove well into the home half.
Play settled around the middle part of the field and it wasn’t until Rory Walker’s clearance kick saw Garnock advance into the Cambuslang 22 metre area. The visitors pressed towards the try line but stout and stubborn defence by Cambuslang kept the scoreboard at zero.
With 13 minutes played Garnock were awarded a penalty on the Cambuslang 10 metre line when they strayed offside. Keir Walker slotted the ball over to put Garnock in front at 0 – 3.
Again, play settled down with neither side able to dominate play. Both sides were trying to play an open game but the conditions and the tight defences easily coped with any threats.
Highlights during the next half hour’s play, from the Garnock aspect, included the relieving kicking from Rory Walker, a powerful Matt Shiells rumble of 35 meters through the middle of field and the Garnock pack beginning to assert itself in the lineouts and set scrums.
With halftime looming and Garnock attacking well inside the Cambuslang half they won a series of penalties for technical infringements by the home side all close to the home try line. Most of these were kicked to touch for position. From one such penalty awarded 5 metres from the line, Garnock scrummed down, won the ball, fed Keir Walker who scampered over to score near the posts. His conversion was good. This put Garnock 10 points in front at halftime.
The second half restarted with Garnock bringing on Logan Ferguson for his first start.
The play followed the pattern of the first half with Garnock being more dominant in the open areas of play but the Cambuslang defensive set up was able to cope.
In the 49th minute the Cambuslang stand-off was yellow carded for a professional foul. From the scrum awarded 5 metres out, the ball was fed to Rory Walker who evaded the tacklers to score near the touchline. The difficult kick was missed but Garnock moved to 0 – 15.
Garnock were now running most of the attractive passages of play while Cambuslang were defending well. Whenever the chance arose the home side were always willing to get their fast attacking backs moving. The defence of Garnock were coping ably and returning their own threats but most attacks were breaking down in mid-field.
With an hour on the clock, Garnock were reduced to 14 when their centre was yellow- carded for a deliberate knock on.
This reversal did not seem to upset the Garnock play as they tried to increase their score. Significant forays into the Cambuslang half by Keir Walker and Tony Woods were just stopped when a try looked likely.
It was left to the forwards to machine the next Garnock score.
The pack forced their way towards the home try line and “won” a penalty near the posts. They elected to scrum and on winning the ball force their way forward for Chris O’Donnell to score. Keir Walker converted to make the score 0 – 22 in Garnock’s favour after 70 minutes.
The remainder of the game was played out in a similar manner to what went before with both sides trying to breach the tight defences but to no avail. The game ended with Garnock winning 22-0 and four league points secured.
On Saturday Garnock host league leaders Kilmarnock at Lochshore with a 2 o’clock kick off.
The Garnock squad at Cambuslang was := Shiells, O’Neill, Miller F, Chapman, Johnston R, McIntosh, Wilson, Dominy, Walker K, Walker R, Woods, Taggart, Reekie, Perry, Neill, Ferguson, O’Donnell, Wright and Johnston P.
