Michie in the groove with five tries

JUST occasionally, for no obvious reason at all, a team-game player

will find himself in a groove where everything goes for him. David

Michie had such a match for Glasgow High/Kelvinside last night at Old

Anniesland, scoring five of the eight tries against Kilmarnock,

including the first four.

Leaving out their district players did not inhibit GHK. Victory by

such a margin was the product of forceful forward play and enterprising

work by the young backs. The youths made mistakes in their eagerness,

but they were always willing to persevere. That had its own rewards,

much to Michie's delight.

Andy Hay, intruding from full back, gave the scoring passes for three

of Michie's five. Harry Bassi contributed two, first with a long pass to

release Hay for the wing's second and then with a break for the fourth.

Ker Docherty's kick to the line created the third. The bounce eluded

the first wave of attack and defence, though not Michie.

Alan Stark broke the sequence by diving over from a goal-line maul

after Walter Malcolm's blind-side thrust, but Michie was back on the

ball eight minutes into the second half. Bassi kicked out of defence,

Cameron Little snapped up the kind bounce, and when Stark was denied on

the line the wing pounced.

Hay kicked four conversions, one from tight on the left touchline, and

two more tries completed the fun. Murray Wallace finished off a thrust

by Michie, Gerry Hawkes, Little, and Hay, and a loose Kilmarnock pass

was eagerly picked up for Bassi to run in from 30 metres.

Kilmarnock added their own patches to the entertainment, with Kenny

Young giving a lead that was at times fearsome in its determination. The

visitors' best chance of a try, however, was lost when Alex Agnew could

not complete his break by providing a pass that would have released

Scott Grant, and not even a couple of strikes against the head by David

Fulton could help the Kilmarnock cause.

It was Michie's night.

Glasgow High/Kelvinside -- A H R Hay; G F Hawkes, K J M Docherty, H

Bassi, D Michie; T Sanderson, C Little; A P Wood, K Hamilton, G Miller,

D Maciver, C Wintersgill, A Stark, M I Wallace, W H Malcolm.

Replacements -- C Eason for Malcolm (51 minutes), J Hodgkinson for Hay

(76).

Kilmarnock -- J McCall; P McIntyre, A Agnew, S McDonald, S S Grant; E

R J Stewart, G Wallace; J Miller, D A J Fulton, W C McMillan, T Adams, A

Scott, K Young, J Larmour, A King. Replacement -- A Smith for Miller

(8).

Referee -- J M Bulloch (Hutchesons').