Signpost for the future

GHA’s U18 team finished their season in style with a hard fought district shield final win.
By Gregor Hollerin
Published 2nd Apr 2014, 14:59 BST

The GHA youngsters defeated Glasgow giants Hawks 13 – 10 at Braidholm on Saturday in front of a crowd of nearly 500 people.

Coach, Zander McIlwham, commented: “It has been an incredible effort by the boys this season, they have been the best team I have worked with . They deserve all the success they have achieved.”

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A superb try from Matt McShane gave the southsiders the perfect start before a controversial try from Glasgow Hawks drew the scores 
level.

GHA went into half time ahead 8-5 thanks to an Andrew Goudie penalty.

A quick tap penalty at the start of the second half and a typically robust break from Scott Plumridge set up Scott Derrick to finish strongly in the right hand corner andput GHA eight points ahead.

Hawks finished strongly and scored a strong driving try with the last play of the game to close the gap to 13 – 10.

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GHA captain, Andrew Goudie, told ExtrasSport: “By the end of the game we just wanted the whistle to go — both sets of players knew they had been in a tough physical game.”

GHA were presented with the Glasgow District Shield and the Glasgow League cup after the game

Half of the U18 squad will move up to a newly created U20 team next season.

Academy manager Paul Tyler believes the team will be “a perfect stepping stone from U18 to senior rugby”.

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He told The Extra: “There will be fixtures against the university teams as well as other clubs who run U20s teams.

“With the GHA youngsters stepping up, plus school leavers from St Aloysius College and Hutchesons’ Grammar and a few new recruits it should be a very strong squad of players.”

GHA’s weekend got even better on Sunday when the exciting young U16 team — minus seven of its star players — beat Cumnock 14 – 7 to win the U16 Glasgow 
Shield.

Daniel Livingstone and Chris Prior both scored, with both tries being converted by Declan Millar.

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Further youth success came from the GHA S2 team who beat Glasgow Hawks and Dumfries to win the SRU Fair Play Festival at 
Braidholm.

An Easter Rugby Camp forP4 to P7 pupils runs from Monday April 14 to Thursday April 17 at Braidholm.

For full details visit www.gharugby.co.uk