Cumnock RFC P5s V Dumfries RFC

Cumnock proudly hosted Dumfries RFC on our new pitches although we were playing a diminished team due to illness and holidays. It was decided to play 2 games of 10 minute halves and Dumfries generously agreed to help Cumnock boast their numbers by loaning us a player. It was clear from the off that Dumfries were formidable opponents who were going to push Cumnock to their limits. This combined with Cumnock’s sluggish start allowed Dumfries to secure a strong lead in the first half of their first game. Our half time team talk focussed on finding space and making those all-important tackles. It was clear during the second half that the boys had woken up and had been listening at half time. Cumnock’s tackles improved slightly, however Kenzie had definitely found his running legs. Scoring 2 consecutive tries through finding and exploiting space, he seemed to boast the teams’ confidence and the others followed suit. The boys worked hard alongside their borrowed player Munro and managed to close the gap finishing within one point of Dumfries, Cumnock 10 V Dumfries 11.

It was clear the Cumnock crew had worked their socks off in their first game as they huffed and puffed on the field during their team talk. Catching their breath they geared up to play a second game, this time Ritchie from Dumfries helped out. Again they were slower off the mark during the first half, but this could have been the exhaustion from the previous 20 minutes. With Cumnock players receiving a few hard hits, Dumfries kindly leant us a second player, Findlay, allowing us to make substitutions giving our players the opportunity to take a breath. Cumnock were finally stepping up to the tackles, although with some fast runners Dumfries were making it difficult. By this point several of our boys had also found their feet. John was showing some spectacular ducking and dodging, Tony was making some long runs at speed and Jack was getting in on the action with some fancy side steps. Aarons confidence was also growing as he was spotted getting more involved and moving forward with the ball in hand. Our team talk in the second game echoed the first with the focus on find space, teamwork and making the tackles. While Findlay went back to play for Dumfries, Nairn came over to play for Cumnock. They then went on to play some more fantastic rugby with both sides showing some excellent skills. The second game finished on Cumnock 8 v Dumfries 12.

We would like to thank Dumfries RFC for making the journey to Cumnock and we commend their boys who not only play passionately for their home team but will also don a Cumnock jersey and work their socks off. We look forward to our next meet.

Squad: Aaron, Jack, John, Kenzie, Tony
Borrowed players from Dumfries RFC : Cameron, Findlay, Nairn, Munro, Ritchie