Greenock Wanderers

Well I am going to try and get some more action going on my blog after a great weekend at Murrayfield to cheer on Greenock Wanderers in the 'Shield Final'.

This was a great day out and despite becoming a keen rugby fan over the past few years, was my 1st time seeing Rugby at Murrayfield (have been only for a concert previously).

The Wanderers have had a great season winning the league comfortably and only losing one game. Unfortunately, this one loss came to their Sheild Final opponents, Lasswade.

Both clubs had made their way to the final, despite the teams one tier above them also competing for the Shield, and both had overcome opposition from the higher tier in the Semi-Finals to set up this final.

I have to confess that I had only previously attended one Wanderers game (a cup game v Melrose? about 10 years ago) so I was definately in the gloryhunting bracket while making my way through to Edinburgh.

The final takes place on 'Scottish Hydro Club Cup Finals Day' with 3 matches being played. The Bowl, Shield and Cup final taking place at 12, 2 and 4pm respectively over the afternoon. The result of this is a a real gala atmosphere with supporters of 6 clubs all being in and around the ground and taking their seats in unreserved seating in the West Stand at Murrayfield.

I was glad to see that the tickets were for unreserved seating and as I thought, the fans managed to organise themselves in pockets of support throughout the stand aiding the atmosphere.

Amazingly the Wanderers had sold around 1000 tickets and organised 16 coaches to get fans to Murrayfield for the game. In itself, a great achievement!

However onto the Rugby. The consensus in the ground before the game was that Lasswade had the larger pack, however Greenock would hope to use the larger pitch and fleetness of foot to press home their advantage in the wider areas as the game wore on. Things were certainly evenly poised and both clubs had one win apiece from their two league meetings.

Lasswade started well and got a penalty with their 1st posession, convertaing from in front of the posts to lead 3-0. Greenock were forced to defend doggedly throughout much of the 1st half, however managed some posession of their own and after building some pressure, they got a score of their own.

Fly Half, Devlin, getting in under the posts following some neat play. The try was converted to give us a 7-3 lead. It was great to get the score and there was much hugging in the stands as Greenock had weathered the storm and were, hopefully, now getting into the game and seeing a bit more of the ball.

However Lasswade built more pressure that Greenock amazingly managed to repel on their own try line. Lasswade eventually drew a penalty and got the score back to 7-6 at Half Time.

Onto the 2nd half, and we all hoped that Greenock's fitness would allow them to get the scoreboard ticking over. However, it was not to be Greenock's day and a try and penalty for Lasswade gave them a 7 point advantage with about 20 minutes to go.

Greenock would need a converted try to at least force extra time, but were unable to get into Lasswade territory much. There were probably a few too many errors and attacks tended to break down with a missed pass or knock on.

Lasswade eventally got another penalty with about 3 minutes to go and converted this to give themselves a 17-7 lead. This would prove decisive, and despite Greenock throwing everything they had left in the final minutes, the Lasswade defence held firm and they took the Shield.

Greenock heads were held high and I'm sure many a drop of ale would pass over the counter at Fort Matilda that night. It was a great day out, and I will def try and get to one or two games at Fort Matilda next season!