Kilmarnock Under 15 5 Cumnock Under 15 29

Report by Morton Houston

Their opponents, Kilmarnock set them a stern challenge with a performance full of commitment in this West of Scotland quarter final.

Cumnock got off to a bright start looking to play an expansive game that immediately paid dividends. The ball was made to do the work as Cumnock stretched their opponents from one side of the park to the other. This resulted in a very impressive move as the ball zipped through 4 sets of hands before flying winger Calum McClownie burst through on the right wing. The second score game from persistent pressure from Cumnock leading to Mauchline’s Jamie Drummond driving through for a score.

A third followed which was similar to the first. Scintillating hands instigated by stand off Andy Houston moved the ball wide for man of the match Adam Watt to score and Owen Young to convert. The impressive work rate of Jamie Caldwell caught the eye as did the solid tackling of John McIlwhain.

The second try saw a second score for Jamie Drummond which was replied to by Kilmarnock as the finished off their own wide move. Great tackling from Kieran Owens and Rob Drummond added to strong running from Kody Robertson Mitchell Smith and Drummond managed to peg a committed Killie team down. Jamie Drummond then finished off a fine hat trick which was converted by Jock Welsh.

Coach mark Van Der Leest commented after the game, “ We played quite well today especially in the first half when we moved the ball about. In the second half we became a bit one dimensional with our forward runners just smashing into strong Kilmarnock defence. I felt if we used our head a bit more we could have stretched them more and gaps would have followed. However a lot of things went well and we can look forward to next weeks semi final against Dalziel. This will be a great game as we have played each other 3 times this year and we are narrowly in the lead with 2 wins to one”

Cumnock play Dalziel on Saturday 12th for a place in the West of Scotland Cup final. This would be the first Cumnock team to ever reach a major cup final in junior rugby.