Match Report by John Cashmore

2 years ago, before Covid put a stop to the 2019-20 league campaign, Helensburgh RFC sent a much-depleted side down to Stranraer to play against Wigtonshire. The Club had to borrow spare players from their opponents to make up the fifteen required to start and the defeat . . . 105-0 . . . was the heaviest endured for many a year. From a purely playing perspective, it was undoubtedly the Club’s nadir (thank you Calum McNicol) and a sad reflection of where the Club was, ultimately readying itself for relegation to the bottom tier of regional rugby in the West of Scotland. Several weeks later we were to face Paisley away. They are, and still are, our nearest same-league opposition and for that match we had 8 players available. Had a frozen Paisley pitch not made the match unplayable, the club would have had to postpone and accept yet another three-point penalty for failing to fulfil the fixture.

Last week, on the eve of our first league fixture of Season 2021-22 against the very same opposition, Wigtonshire, at Ardencaple, Coach Kerr had to explain to 6 players that they were surplus to requirements and the news that we were fielding a full team along with 7 replacements, hopefully, tells us that perhaps a new era is upon us. This Saturday the Club welcomes Paisley RFC to Ardencaple and we look forward to having another full squad to select from.

On Saturday past, the Green & Golds were in control and winning 22-10 but a very dubious penalty try and a long list of incredibly frustrating refereeing decisions allowed Wigtonshire to claw back the deficit and when the ref blew his whistle, the match was drawn.

Fair play to Wigtonshire who had arrived more than 2 hours prior to kick-off, an indication of their eagerness to also play their first league game of the new season. Not traditionally known for their away form, it was commented by a number of spectators that this was by far the best Wigtonshire away team the local lads had ever played against. They were a big, brawny and fit looking side who fronted up and took the game to Helensburgh early on, happy to move the ball from well within their own half and making ground with their powerful runners. Helensburgh’s first-up tackling needed to be sound and it was. The blue-jerseyed Shire players were consistently grounded by superb tackling from every home team player but they kept coming and did so throughout the whole 80 minutes. It took 20 minutes for the Burgh to get properly into the match having enjoyed very little ball possession during that first quarter. A penalty, one of the few awarded to Helensburgh throughout the game, followed by a quick tap and go by Sean Alton who couldn’t be prevented from crossing the Wigtonshire whitewash with young Warren Smith, fresh out of the Under-18s, converting, gave us the lead. Wigtonshire attacked again and eventually scored an unconverted try. It was nip and tuck but Burgh stretched their lead after the break with another score by Alton and an opportunistic try by youngster, Nicol Gray, who had replaced Josh Powell at 9. The 22-10 lead, given the control and endeavor shown by the Helensburgh team at this point, was thought to be unassailable but the Shire boys flung everything at Burgh, scoring a 7 point penalty try and with seconds to go, their forwards drove lineout ball to score another try wide out. Their kicker missed what would have been a winning conversion and the ref blew his whistle . . . again! . . . but this time signaling the end of the match.

A draw is not a loss BUT everyone agreed it felt like one and the body language of the Burgh players as they shook hands with the Wigtonshire lads couldn’t mask the fact that, what they felt, felt like failure. Trooping off, their faces, similarly, showed frustration and disappointment while the south coasters patted each other on their backs as if they had won.

So here we are with a team half-full of home-grown Burgh Boys, straight out of the U18s and flung into grown-up league rugby. They didn’t disappoint, no not one. Helensburgh RFC needs these young fellows to help ease the Club away from the doldrums of the past 10 years and carry us forward into a rosier future. We need them to repay us, for after all, hasn’t the Club along with countless individuals over the years invested huge amounts of time, energy and expense in them. Everything they have learned in rugby is due to this great wee Club’s efforts. It’s an investment we gladly make in our mini and youth set ups in order to create a conveyor belt of raw and fearless talent that can be molded into Green & Gold.

Coaches Cammy Kerr, Ali Rogers, Liam Flanagan and Mark Sloan have worked hard to develop 1st XV players and fine-tune a playing system that best utilizes our strengths and not our weaknesses. It looks fun to play for Helensburgh RFC at the moment and the players certainly seem to be enjoying doing so. New skipper, Mark Robertson and Team Manager, Alex Macaulay have helped attract a good group of services lads to the Club and a number of them were genuinely proud to put on a Burgh top against Wigtonshire as they will against Paisley this coming Saturday. We hope injuries to Connor McLellan, Craig Calderwood, Reece Court and James Wales aren’t serious and that they are all available on the 18th