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39th SEASON 2007 - 08
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Reports For Season 2006 - 07 Alan Glens 7 - CLYDEBANK 12 Report by Mick Devlin Duncan Two weeks to league campaign lift off and the 2006 Bankies were presenting signs of an improving and quietly confident side. Tough in the tackle and adventurous with ball in hand Clydebank were worthy winners of this tough wee contest. Despite the best efforts of both sides the 1st period ended scoreless. With undoubtedly the best chance of the half, Full-back Davie Smart reneged on a simple pass to an in the clear Ross Douglas and eventually faltered in his stride for glory. In reply Glens use of the chip-over caught the Bank defence scrambling on more than one occasions. So with effective cover tackling and wasted chances on both sides the deadlock remained. New period new resolve as the bank pack finally made their mark Thunderous tackles complimented a stiflingly effective driving maul to march the Red and Blacks deep into opposition territory. The seemingly inevitable score arrived with a textbook back row move; Don Ross pick and go, Moffat Pivot, rampaging Ross crashes over in front of the sticks. Terrific stuff! The loosies, messrs Starkey Richards and Ross, with chests now fully puffed out, again linked effortlessly to release the impressive Ian Starkey for a simple canter to the whitewash. Moffat strikes one of two and the Bank lead twelve zip. To the eyes of the concerned supporter what followed can only be regarded as slightly disappointing. The home side reached down and pulled out a tenacity that had been fairly ‘blootered oot o them’ bye the blistering Bankie forwards. The visitors were forced into a frantic error strewn brand of rugby. Duncan and Watson combined like repulsive magnets, McQuarrie argued his way out of twenty yards and the backline adopted the Netherlands position. One Converted try and a goal-line scramble later, the Bank had survived to claim worthy victory. The failings exhibited in the closing stages perhaps served to dampen the positive affect of a preseason victory. But a victory it was, and Clydebank stride on to next weeks home friendly with Strathclyde police (kick off 3pm) with genuine optimism. CLYDEBANK 26 - Strathclyde Police 22 Report by Mick Devlin Duncan Eight tries, huge swings in momentum and a last minute Bankie winner all made for a real cracker of a match. It would take a brave man to tell these teams there was nothing at stake but preseason pride. Huge collective effort made for a game with drama at every turn that on reflection was perhaps an ideal warm-up for a tough season ahead. With rolling substitutes allowing for the usage of over fifty (Davie Lennie?) players, huge swings in momentum were perceived throughout. The home side got caught a little undersized at the beginning and paid a heavy price. Against a full strength team, heartily emboldened by new recruits with experience of higher levels of the game Clydebank were simply pummelled. Pinned in their own half the Bank held on grimly but to little avail. With more power, pace and aggression the visitors were perhaps disappointed to plunder only ten points from huge competitive advantage. A major jolt in momentum was required. Wholesale changes seeing the introduction of Bell, Duncan, McKee, Ross and Watson and renewed enthusiasm for the whole team and the game was promptly turned on its head. Confident, aggressive and exuding purpose, the Red and Blacks now charged forward. Almost immediately Don Ross had broken deep behind the police cordon. Moffat, Duncan and Watson combined to release poacher supreme Graeme Kyle to surge over the line. Captain Miller boomed over the tight angled conversion and the deficit was now only three. The surge of momentum continued. The forwards were blasting up tight channels, Bell and Watson’s leadership had carved out a stronger backline and only timely errors (and there were a few eh Ross?) could stop the Bank taking the lead. They had to wait until the 3rd (yes 3rd it’s a friendly!) period before the ever industrious Paul Andrews capitalised on good lineout disruption to race at the posts. The cover defence were alert to this but Andrews still wrestled his way through for an impressive individual score. The boys in blue were now camped on their own line. Pinned against a tidal wave of red-and-black pressure a further score seemed inevitable. Following the age-old mantra of “the harder I try the luckier I get it” Graeme Kyle was again on hand with the finishing touch to great snaffling work from David Bell and Iain Starkey. The visiting stand-off lived to regret his chosen drop-out option. With Miller’s boot still perfect, the lead had stretched to a full eleven points and with only the final quarter to come a Bankie win now looked inevitable. To their enduring credit that’s not how the visitors viewed the situation. Taking advantage first of weak tackling (there was a fair bit) then of a woeful blunder by full-back Miller, the Police somehow wrestled back the lead. Stunned and short of time a chastened Bank threw both complacency and caution to the wind in a desperate attempt to salvage the match. A bungled line-out looked to have sealed their fate when thankfully a reprise was offered a Black shirt having been spotted offside. No sooner than the refs hand was raised to signal penalty than Ross Moffat was tearing away with a tap-and-go dash to the line which won the match. Welcome redress for the barra having previously (and eponymously!) muffed numerous quality chances. His beaming smile contrasted sharply with the anguished expressions of his law enforcing counterparts. This had been one hell of a contest. A great many positive aspects emerged from this challenge. Not least of which were the continuing signs of progress shown by under-18 representatives Euan Cuthbert, Connor Sloss, Ross Douglas and Michael Starkey, who it appears are progressing into fine senior players. Clydebank are, in patches, now reaching a level of performance that could build success. With a more consistent attitude of approach the Bank are more than capable of victory in next weeks season opener at Oban. Loch Lomond 20 - CLYDEBANK 25 Report by Scoop Flasher This game started with the stutter so common in recent games. Clydebank showed some good team work but gave away some unnecessary penalties within their own 22 which allowed Lomond to take the lead early on with two converted penalties. This did not upset Clydebank who came back with two fine tries from Graeme Kyle and Ross McCombe although these were not converted. After some bad injuries resulting from unwelcome attention from the Lomond forwards and some poor footwork on the part of our own players, Clydebank were forced into early changes. A patch of bad concentration from Clydebank and increased vigour from Lomond allowed Lomond to come back with two soft converted tries leaving Clydebank trailing 20-10. This continued for some time before a fine break from Graeme Kyle with a kick beyond the Lomond defence allowed David Smart to touch down. Again, Ross Moffat was unusually unsuccessful with the conversion. A further penalty took the score to 20-18 and what looked to be a win for Lomond. With minutes to go and a resurgent Clydebank pushing towards the Lomond line a scrum 15 yards from the try line looked to be Clydebank's final chance. When the ball was lost and Lomond began to run the ball out of defence all looked to be over for Clydebank. However, with a twist of fate and a snatch at the luck which has so far this season eluded us, Peter Watson charged down a kick for touch which crossed the line and allowed Peter to fall on it and score to snatch victory from a despondent Lomond team. This is the first win of the league and takes Clydebank to third from bottom. CLYDEBANK 11 - Cumnock 9 Report by Scoop Flasher The 1st XV went into this weekend needing to re-establish the form that we know they are capable of. In wet and dismal conditions the team as a whole produced their best opening 15 minutes of the season showing good team work. Ball retention and attacking were the best of the year. However, Cumnock managed to come back into the game with some unfortunate decisions going against Clydebank. After two successful penalties Cumnock were in the lead 0-6, but not in the ascendancy. The game settled for a while until once again the decisions went once more in favour of the visitors who converted a third penalty to take the game to 0-9. The same resilience shown last week was obviously still there as Clydebank came back with a fine penalty from Ross Moffat. The half ended with Cumnock leading 3-9. After the break the game settled back into the same pattern with no team taking absolute control. After a tussle in a maul Clydebank were reduced to 14 men when Jamie Baxter was judged, although harshly in the opinion of this impartial observer, to have stamped on a man who had collapsed the maul. This would have previously caused the Clydebank team to have started the internal squabbling, however, the team work so evident throughout the game so far and with the stoic leadership of David Bell, the team got stronger. This strength led Vinnie Nellis to chase the retreating Cumnock winger and charge down the ball. Picking up the stray ball Vinnie sprinted for the line. With several Cumnock defenders hanging from him Vinnie touched down to the delight of the excited crowd. With Ross Moffat missing the conversion the game sat at 8-9. The Clydebank team proceeded to tackle, tackle and tackle again. The game stayed at a stale mate for some time. Clydebank won a penalty within 5yds of the Cumnock line but chose to run it rather than convert, a decision the crowd hoped would not come back to haunt them. After losing the ball in the ensuing contact Clydebank were forced back down the park. Several minutes later Clydebank had another bite at the penalty cherry and Ross Moffat stepped up to make sure this time. A stuttering kick slid through the posts and Clydebank were in the lead 11-9. The following fifteen minutes had the Clydebank crowd on the edge of their metaphorical seats. As the clock ticked down the game returned to the earlier stalemate. Cumnock resorted to some desperate tactics that gave one of their side a 10 minute cooling off period. However, with a strong defence and team work to be proud of, the final whistle eventually arrived and Clydebank were the victors. A better performance against strong opposition. CLYDEBANK 39 - Braidholm 33 Report by Scoop Flasher A roller coaster ride of a game saw Clydebank finish 39-33 winners against a keen but inefficient Braidholm team After a good start and fine support running David Bell opened the scoring and it looked like Clydebank would run out strong winners. However, the usual failings resurfaced leading to the inevitable errors that gave Braidholm the chance to score. The rest of the game went from the sublime to the ridiculous, back to the sublime and once more, the ridiculous appeared. Scores from Graeme Kyle, Alan Cameron, David Kirkwood and James Roberts were each replied to by Braidholm off the back of dismal Clydebank mistakes. Once again it took the reliable boot of Ross Moffat to make the difference in this game. Ross completed four conversions and two penalties to give Clydebank the result that takes them into the next round. Photos can be viewed here.
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