The match began with a minute’s silence for the late, great Doddie Weir. Doddie is a legend of our sport and his loss has been felt by all who knew him and many more who didn’t. All at GHK offer their condolences to Doddie’s family who have inspired us with the strength they have shown during these incredibly challenging years.

Both of these newly promoted sides like to throw the ball around and the crowd would be in for a treat if the match was to be anything like the last encounter at Inverleith.

The opening ten minutes were dominated by the hosts as they set up camp deep within the opposition’s half. GHK turned down an easy three pointer in front of the posts and backed their scrum on five(!) occasions but to the bemusement of both the players and the home crowd, no visiting player was sent to the naughty step. The hosts thought they had finally found a breakthrough with a fine try for Craig Gossman only for it to be rightfully chalked off for a forward pass from fly half Grant Anderson who had done well to get his arms free.

To their credit, the visitors defended resolutely and eventually escaped from their own line with a few strong carries and smart kicks downfield. They were rewarded with the first points of the game as former GHK fly half Kyle Henderson waved his wand to make it 3-0.

Soon after, Stew Mel were back on the offensive before Ben Frame was alleged to have intervened illegally at the ruck so helped himself to some baked camembert. This was a particularly sore one given Frame’s importance to the team but also in the context of the earlier absence of a yellow for the visitors.

Stew Mel started to play some really attractive rugby and should have scored a couple of times whilst they had the one-man advantage. Two glorious try scoring opportunities were spurned in the far-left hand corner; one involved an unfortunate knock-on over the line that would have been a try-of-the-season contender. GHK were hanging on.

However, it was not long until the pressure turned into points as the eastenders scored a wonderful length of the field try – this time their winger made no mistake with dotting the ball down. Henderson missed the conversion and the half was brought to a close; 0-8 to Smellies.

Stew Mel picked up where they left off with a try almost straight from the restart. A break down the middle of the park resulted in the ball being recycled to the right touchline and their winger showed great gas and dexterity to dive over in the corner. Henderson added the extras and all of a sudden GHK had a mountain to climb.

The weegies were dealt a further blow when towering second row Lewis Brock, was brought off with a head knock. Whether this was the catalyst that sparked a comeback we will never know but from that point on GHK appeared to up their intensity and fought back extremely well.

GHK’s first try of the afternoon came from A. N. Other as one of the forwards flopped over from short range at the back of an impressive driving maul in the far corner. The conversion was missed but there was a sense that the hosts were on the move. This sense was enhanced when a fine Stew Mel attack was quelled and the ball held up over the line. GHK cleared and soon after the visitors had to deal with being down to fourteen themselves. Their second row was handed some particularly smelly stilton after repeated infringements which inevitably led to more than a few ironic cheers from the OA faithful.

GHK had their tails up and yet another penalty was kicked to the corner. Another barnstorming driving maul created enough momentum so that all captain Frame had to do was crash over from a few metres out. Anderson added the conversion and now the hosts were in striking distance.

Although the visitors threatened to reply with a score of their own, GHK defended well and added a third try soon after when their scrum dominance was rewarded with a five-pointer from close range. Anderson couldn’t add any extras but the momentum was only going in one direction at this stage.

Stew Mel didn’t help themselves and compounded their earlier yellow card with another as their hooker chowed down on a plate of cheddar for the remainder of the game. So, there was an air of inevitability about which side would score next and GHK made no mistake when they were presented with an opportunity from five metres out. This time it was fans’ favourite Paul Henderson that barged over and sent the crowd into hysteria. The conversion was added and the home support breathed a collective sigh of relief as they looked at their watches and presumed that would be the end of the game.

But no! There was to be yet more drama as Stew Mel fought back ferociously and were awarded a penalty in front of the posts twenty metres out. Knowing they needed a converted score to win, they tapped and went and it looked for all money that they would find a way to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. However, the hosts showed great character on their own line to hold firm, steal the ball and eventually boot it into the hockey pitches for full time.

Full time: GHK 24 – 18 Stewart’s Melville

Firstly, what a match! After a bright start from GHK, it was the men from Edinburgh that played all the rugby and had they finished off a couple of the gimme’s in the first half, they would have surely left Glasgow with all five points. However, GHK hung in there and exploited their numerical advantage in the pack extremely well with all four tries coming as a result of set piece dominance.

There were a number of stand-out performances, mostly in the forward pack. The whole front row must be commended for their utter dominance at scrum time which was the foundation of everything good that GHK did. Angus Troop carried like a maniac and Mark Preston tackled like one. But there can only be one Man of the Match and this week it goes to El Capitan, Ben Frame. Despite being full of mozzarella, he led from the front with smart kicking, accurate passing and showed great strength to score at a crucial moment in the game. Well done Benjamin!