Away To Hillhead/Jordanhill

A fine but chilly morning for rugby seen a great turnout from Cumnock and after a very respectful 2 minute silence for Remembrance Sunday, it was on to the action for the Cumnock Reds & Blacks. The Blacks were made up of Kyran, Alfie, Neil, Harvey, Euan and Adam S & The Reds were Stuart, Calleigh, Jake, Jack, Charlie, Aaron & Euan M.

First up for the Blacks was a game against the hosts Hillhead A and no sign of the occasional slow start from Cumnock, straight into the tackles and straight into the tries as the they battled hard and fast and Hillhead no match for that combination as the tackles rained in from Euan and Harvey and tries rained in from Alfie (3), Neil (3), Kyran (3)and Adam S (2)showing off his pace as match finished 11-2.

Second up was match against a stronger Hillhead B – this time with some pace of their own as they took the opening try in what was a tough match. The teamwork from The Blacks was awesome though with a try in this game from every Cumnock player showed the workrate in depth of this wee team. Kyran showing the strength of two boys as he crashed home for 5 in this game after some great passing and hard tackling from the whole team. The match finished 11-5 for another Cumnock win.

Third and last game for the Blacks was against a big, strong Cambuslang team with their squad dwarfing all of the Cumnock team except Kyran. This game was ferocious right from the start, we were defending on our own try line successfully and an early turnover was won! Tackles galore and the sheer bravery of the our players putting themselves in the firing line with Neil felling the big lads like trees one after another, Harvey weaving through and torturing the Cambuslang defence with Ewan gaining precious yards at every chance, Alfie orchestrating deftly in the middle with great footwork and Kyran crashing through then offloading superbly to Adam S who found the line for the winning try. Amazing team performance from the the young Cougar Cubs in an intense game with Cumnock finishing with a 3-2 win. Phew!

The Reds started off very tentatively today however soon got back into their stride. It really was a battle from start to finish against 2 strong Cambuslang Teams and a resurging Hillhead. Match 1 was Against Cambuslang A who were as feisty as expected. We were battling hard with Jake as always both in attack and defence turning up where our opponents would never expect him to be. Calleigh again brought her powerful and commanding ball carries to bear and really did show that no matter the opponents steely determination was all that was needed to combine with her awesome handling skills to put our opponents on the back foot. Score 8-6 to the Reds.

Another Cambuslang match was on the cards very quickly after the first and as expected once again a very close battle was held on the pitch. We ended up on the back foot for most of the match however with Jack, Aaron and Stuarts tackling our young heroes managed to win the match with one of the closest games we've ever had. Our opponents coach stated after the match that its one of the best tackling games hes had the pleasure to watch. At half time we had mentioned that our tackling needed work and the kids were very pleased to hear the compliments coming their way. Score 6-5 to Cumnock Reds

Our final match was against Hillhead who were our gracious hosts for today. The kids had watched Hillhead play earlier between matches and were very impressed. During this match we were really opening up our heels and showing our determination in defence. As each time we were pressed we reacted excellently to it. Hillhead were able to show everyone that they didn't just invite us to compete but they were able to
show how they can give even our best tacklers the slip. In this match is was the combination of Euan M and Charlie who really proved to be the winning combination. Time and time again they would move forward with the combination of pace, skill and determination and each and every time they were devastating to our opponents. Score 7-5

Great teamwork, great discipline and flawless conduct from the kids today.

Overall Scoreline: Cumnock 46 - 25 Opponents