Cumnock Under 15 Match Report

Greenock Under 15 27 Cumnock Under 15 26

Cumnock travelled to Greenock on Sunday with a much weakened squad to plan league rivals who had beaten them on the 2 previous outings by a 20 point margin. The day got off to an inauspicious start when Cumnock’s minibus broke down on the way to the game. Kicking off 45 minutes late with a 15 minute warm up wasn’t ideal. 2 tries down after 10 minutes was the result of this cold start and the situation looked grim.

Cumnock however are made of stern stuff and they gradually pulled themselves back into the game. A typical rampaging run by the force of nature that is Jamie Drummond got one back. This was converted by the ever reliable Owen Young. A second followed from the hugely improved and impressive Ross Marr sending Cumnock into the break at 12-10 in the lead.

The second half was a hugely enjoyable affair. Cumnock played some great rugby especially by Jamie Caldwell, Jock Welsh and Hamish White. They suffered an early blow when they were intercepted metres from the Greenock line resulting in a 90 metre score completely against the run of play. A second Greenock try followed again against the run of play leaving Cumnock 24-12 down.

Cumnock dug deep however and went close due to a fantastic play by Jamie Drummond and Andy Houston as they interpassed there way in between the posts only to have the score chopped off for a forward pass. More was to follow however as Drummond picked up from number 8 from a scrum 20 metres out. He ripped through the defence to score a try converted by Kody Robertson. A 4th score followed the irrepressible Jock Welsh, also converted by Robertson, putting Cumnock in the lead 26-24 with only minutes to go.
Greenock hammered into Cumnock and were awarded penalty after penalty by the referee however they refused to buckle. With only a minute on the clock Greenock were awarded yet another penalty which they kicked to win by the narrowest of margins.

Coach Mark Van Der Leest said after the game, “ This was a great game and a great performance from the Cumnock boys. We had some key players missing but those who were there really fronted up. We lost out because Greenock had some pace to score from far out but I was pleased how we managed to take their larger pack on. This indicates further strides forward and next season looks to be another exciting one.”