Following the dramatic World Cup final in the morning, the rugby enthusiasts at grass roots level arrived at Netherdale on a pleasant Saturday afternoon to watch this league match between Gala and Boroughmuir.
Gala were missing their winger and regular kicker, Ross Cooke, who was off to represent Poland in an international game against Germany. This being his second appearance for Poland .
The game kicked off at 3.00 pm and Gala started very powerfully with good flowing rugby. This start obtained results within 7 minutes when following a fast interchange passing movement near the touch line the ball ended with Gala winger Fergus Johnston who crossed the line to score Gala’s first try. This was unconverted and took the score to Gala 5 Boroughmuir 0.
Six minutes later, Gala had a scrum just inside the 22 metre line, the ball was picked up by Euan Dods, the Gala captain, at No.8, he broke forward and passed to Fergus Johnston who sprinted in to score in the corner.
This was converted by Ruairi Howarth, the Gala full back, to take the score to Gala 12 Boroughmuir 0.
Gala marched on and after 24 minutes following a Gala penalty a ruck was formed. The ball was picked up from the rear of the ruck and passed to Rex Jeffrey who scored near the posts. Again this was not converted and took the score to Gala 17 Boroughmuir 0.
Ten minutes later following Gala possession in their own half, the ball was kicked into the Boroughmuir half. Fergus Johnston could not pick up but after some clever dribbling he did manage to gather and passed to John Watson, Gala’s second row, who showed the opposition a clean pair of heels to score the Gala bonus point try under the posts. This was converted by Ruairi Howarth and took the score to Gala 24 Boroughmuir 0.
In injury time in the first half when following a penalty on the Gala 5 metre line, a scrum was elected by Boroughmuir, the scrum half John Anderson, picked up at the rear of the scrum saw a space and jinked through to the line. This was converted by the fly half Callum Anderson to bring the half time score to Gala 24 Boroughmuir 7.
The first 20 minutes of the second half showed Boroughmuir playing a much more determined game but Gala defence was up to the challenge. Gala were awarded a penalty on the Boroughmuir 10 metre line. Club captain Euan Dods saw the opportunity and took the penalty quickly to himself and ran 40 metres to score under the posts. This was converted by Ruairi Howarth taking the score to Gala 31 Boroughmuir 7.
5 minutes later Boroughmuir showed that they were not going to lie down when scrum half Jack Hamilton collected just outside of the Gala 5 metre line and broke three Gala tackles to cross the line. This was converted by the Boroughmuir substitute Robin Weersma.
Two minutes into injury time at the end of the match Gala were awarded a penalty on the half way line. This was kicked to touch and Gala won their line out then after a nice handling movement the ball was passed to Rex Jeffrey who forced himself through the defence for his second try of the day. This was not converted and took the final score to Gala 36 Boroughmuir 14.
Next week Gala are at Netherdale again and this time will entertain Ayr in what promises to be another entertaining game where a win for the home side could push Gala up the league. This game kicks off at 3.00 pm
Bob Sneddon