2nd XV take the flak for victory

Nov 12 2009 by George Topp, Lanark & Carluke

BIGGAR RFC’s 2nd XV toughed it out for a good 31 - 11 win against Hamilton 2nd XV.

Hamilton immediately attacked from their own 22 passing the ball wide to make good ground into the Biggar half where Ally Walker was penalised for a late hit and Biggar were down 3–0 with barely a minute on the clock.

Following an offside in midfield, Renwick stepped up and put the ball between the posts to make it 3–3.

Biggar then started to really make good ground but a combination of good defence and handling errors by Biggar allowed Hamilton to escape. A rare excursion by Hamilton into Biggar’s half resulted in another penalty, this time for not staying on their feet at the ruck and the penalty was kicked to make it 6–3 to the visitors.

After Hamilton were adjudged to have put into a scrum squint and a subsequent offside Renwick stepped up to make it 6–6.

Biggar were on the attack again when another penalty, again at the breakdown for not rolling away led to Renwick adding another three to make it 9–6.

After a period of sustained pressure, Biggar decided to kick the final penalty as time was up in the half and the whistle saw the teams turning round at 12–6 to Biggar. A penalty led to a very good try from the away side with their number 8 storming down the wing for a score in the corner. A good effort just slid past the posts for a missed conversion and now there was only one point in it.

Biggar continued to attack and when deep into the opposing half the ball was turned over by Hamilton but under pressure from the defence a sloppy kick to midfield was picked up by John Galloway who took the ball open, drawing several players before off-loading to James Cochrane who took the pass off his laces to pick up, side step two defenders and sprint in for a much-needed score. An excellent opportunist try was made all the better when Renwick converted from near to the touchline to make it 19–11.

A great driving maul against a tiring Hamilton pack led to Charles Cochrane to storm over for a score that was converted again by Renwick to give Biggar a healthy lead at 26–11.

Later in the play Biggar opted to scrum and with good ball won, the opposition scrum half went beyond the back foot allowing Euan McAlpine the freedom to pick up from the base and score from 10 metres out. Renwick finally faulted and missed this conversion and the score was 31–11.

Biggar remain fourth in the league.

THE 3rd XV had a very encouraging 53-10 win over Edinburgh side Inverleith.

Points came from David Galloway (2), David Robertson, Willie Steel, Malcolm Bruce, Andrew Howatson (2), Ross Halley and Jamie Anderson, who was playing his first game for Biggar in 12 years. Bruce and Howatson kicked two conversions each.

BIGGAR Colts got back to winning ways with an excellent 21-18 victory over Dunfermline.

The deadlock of the first 25 minutes was broken by an individual piece of quick-thinking from scrum half David McArthur. He took a quick tap penalty just inside the Dunfermline half, evaded three or four defenders and sprinted all the way to score under the posts.

Just before half time, Ali Dow intercepted a pass at centre and headed for the try line but was tackled by the cover defence, but offloaded the ball in the tackle to the supporting Danny McGinn who crossed the line for an excellent score.

Early in the second half, Ali Dow had a great man and ball tackle on his opposite number, allowing him to rip the ball and sprint in under the posts from halfway to give Biggar a 21-0 lead after Richard Peacock added his third conversion of the day.

LEAGUE leaders Biggar U-15’s travelled to Musselburgh expecting a physical encounter following last year’s match which ended with ill feeling.

Midway through the first half Nick Began made a tremendous break down the flank and when well stopped on the 25 there was a flying Andrew Sumpster supporting who Nick found with a pass and Andrew with still a lot of work to do burst though for a touchdown beneath the posts which Mark Bertram slotted over.

But Musselburgh moved the ball wide quickly on the half way and managed to break through wide to run in a try in the corner, which left the kick too difficult to convert. This gave Biggar a 7 - 5 lead at half time.

During the second half Peter Miller crashed through for a well earned try which again Mark slotted between the posts.

Musselburgh came rampaging back for another try setting up an exciting and nail-biting last five minutes. Biggar were jubilant securing a hard-fought 14-10 win.

THE S1 squad had a welcome 29-12 win against Dalziel. Tries were scored by Lewis Barrie (3), Andrew Orr, Mark Harrison, Gregor Stewart, Simon Denholm, Richard Morgan and Stuart Manock. Stewart (2) and James Barr (1) shared kicking duties.

THERE was also a 15-14 win against Dalziel for the Biggar S2s. Biggar opened the scoring after five minutes with Danny McAllister chasing and picking up the ball to cross the line following two successive grubber kicks from the half way line.

McAllister got a second try 17 minutes into the game, with Dalziel gaining a try just before half time. Dalziel put in a slightly stronger performance in the second half scoring three tries and despite a further try from Ryan Anderson and Danny McAllister, the final scoreline ended on a single point difference.

Dumfries and Moffat were the Minis’ opponents when they visited Hartreemill last Sunday.

The Biggar P4s sides lost the games 0-7 and 0-4 (to Dumfries) and 2-6 and 3-5 (to Moffat).

With neither a Dumfries nor Moffat P5 side, Biggar’s P5s decided to take on the Moffat P6 team, beating them 7-5. Biggar P5s joined the P6s for the second game, losing 5-4. Playing Dumfries twice and Moffat once, the Biggar P6s managed to run in 24 tries while conceding 2. An 11-1 win against Moffat was sandwiched by 8-1 and 5-0 victories against Dumfries. An opening 4-2 win for the P7s against Dumfries was followed by 6-3 victory against Moffat.

DEFENCELESS: Biggar forwards drive through the Hamilton defence with encouragement from Ian Renwick.

LOCAL WIN: Biggar's 2nd XV take the game to Hamilton.