HELENSBURGH were soundly beaten by local rivals Clydebank under the Whitecrook floodlights on Saturday in their first match of the new year, despite keeping it fairly tight in a competitive first half.

Unfortunately, the home side ran in tries aplenty as the Burgh lads tired to enable the Bankies to run out 68-5 winners, avenging their narrow defeat at Ardencaple earlier in the season.

Skipper Cammy Kerr had amassed a decent-sized squad for the short trip, and was hoping for a repeat of last year’s famous victory on the 4G surface at the new Clydebank Community Sport Hub.

But as daylight faded, so did Burgh’s chances of another upset, as the Bankies turned on the style under the floodlights and the Grizzlies began to run out of steam – at least in part as a result of a lack of match sharpness, given the six-week gap since their last competitive fixture.

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Burgh’s sole try-scorer was Craig Calderwood.

This Saturday, January 25, Helensburgh welcome Wigtownshire to Ardencaple, where hopefully similar numbers are available and the boys crank up the commitment and the passion for this one.

The Stranraer boys dished out a bit of a doing to a depleted Helensburgh side earlier on in the campaign, so Kerr and co are hoping that it’s ‘all hands to the pump’ and that a big crowd will head along to Ardencaple to crank up the atmosphere and perhaps cheer the Greens on to what would be only their third win of the campaign.

Saturday’s match kicks off at 2pm.

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