GHK 48

Biggar 14

Al Stewart at Old Anniesland

THERE was no April Fool's joke or fairytale ending for Biggar as they rounded off their league campaign with a disappointing and disjointed performance at Old Anniesland.

Biggar travelled with some optimism and looking for some redress following the Glasgow side's narrow win at Hartree Mill in December.

Biggar had to work really hard in the opening quarter as GHK, bolstered by a strong breeze on their backs, confined their visitors to their 22.

Had they not made a couple of errors they might have struck earlier but it was still within the first 10 minutes when winger Marc Taylor crossed for the first try.

Danny Campbell missed the conversion but this was a rare error form the centre.

The Jardine brothers both opened up the GHK defence as did Stuart Hull but desperate home defence and handling errors meant that the chances were wasted.

Another break after a neat lineout from prop Dan O’Connell saw Orr make a great line break.

Hull collected the ball to go through under the posts for a try which Aird Jardine converted to give Biggar a slender 7-5 lead.

Shortly after the restart a great take on the GHK throw by Alan Warnock was snaffled by GHK flanker Nick Horn who had the simplest of tasks to touch down.

It was an error however which saw the ball dropped and referee John Shaw signal no try.

The game was played at a terrific pace throughout as players looked to run at every opportunity.

Biggar’s errors meant that GHK were able to stretch their lead, an interception seeing the home side exploit the space to score through lock Hugh Parker.

The score stood at 12-7 but stretched to 19-7 on the stroke of half time with scrum half Michael Aird credited with the score.

If Biggar were to win they had to keep GHK out in the opening exchanges of the second half but this they failed to do.

The Glasgow outfit exploited a restart error to take play to the Biggar 22 and from there centre Campbell scored. This try coincided with Lavery aggravating his ankle injury and he became the third player to withdraw from the pitch. Campbell converted for 24-7.

Andy Jardine made a brave return to the fray to try to make sure Biggar had a full XV on the field but this return was relatively short-lived and his place was eventually taken by Zander Lyon.

There was never that much between the sides but GHK were always able to make the most of their chances and it was not that long before they struck again, Taylor the scorer and Campbell kicking the conversion for 31-7.

Biggar replied minutes later to give them a bit of a spur, Jardine at scrum half taking full advantage of the delay in the GHK’s lack of organisation to tap and go.

Though Jardine was seemingly held up referee Shaw was happy to award the score and so Biggar trailed by 31-14.

As players tired so their positional play suffered, GHK exploiting the gaps to score another couple of tries via Nick Hurn and then a brace for Campbell who kicked and ran well.

Biggar played some good stuff but they were unable to sustain any passages of play they had or manage to stay in the GHK 22 for any prolonged period.

Biggar: Gregor Stewart, Alistair Sinclair, Stuart Hull, Robbie Lavery, Craig McDonald, Andrew Jardine, Aird Jardine, Donald Voas, Ewan Stewart, Dan O'Connell, Andrew Dunlop, Alan Warnock, Andrew Orr, Duncan Withers, Ross Jackson. Reps: Douglas Notman, Zander Lyon, Calvin Henderson.