P4 vs Ardrossan & East Kilbride (away)

This week Cumnock P4s travelled to the coast to play Ardrossan with East Kilbride also in attendance. With slightly lower numbers than usual Cumnock were still able to field two teams.
The Blacks first match of the day was against the hosts Ardrossan, Cumnock won the toss and opted to start ball in hand. Cumnock started strongly with a weaving run by Reiley jinking his way through to open the scoring. Ardrossan responded well with a darting run up the wing at the restart only to be denied by a crunching tackle from Cuinn with Matthew there to gather the dropped ball and set off himself to score in the corner. Cumnock were having to work hard in defence with Lewis, Cuinn and Freya not giving any ground away in the middle. In attack the Blacks were finding some success with Lewis muscling his way through to keep the scores coming. Cuinn seemed to be everywhere on the park causing carnage in defence. Murray’s darting runs up the wing were opening the game up and with his ability to get the quick offloads away the Blacks kept the momentum up and managed to run out 7-5 winners.
The next game saw the Red team face off against a notably larger East Kilbride team. From the off EK set the tone with fast flowing attacks managing to get 3 early scores on the trot. Some strong runs by Ryan, on debut, and Evan were keeping the EK defence on their toes though with Aaron’s blistering pace finally proving to much with a fine score in the corner to get the Reds on the board. After a half time talk with their coach Cumnock came flying out the blocks with strong runs by Logan and Ewan that brought them inches from the EK line, Ryan was then on hand for the offload and found space wide to get his first try in a Cumnock strip. In defence Cumnock were having to dig deep to keep the well drilled EK side at bay with Logan, Finlay and Ryan letting nothing through the middle. EK were still able to find some space out wide to keep their tally up resulting in an 8-4 defeat to EK
Next up was the Blacks against EK. The Blacks seemed out to avenge the Reds, with fast, strong attacks making the EK side work tirelessly. The Blacks determination was proving too much, with Lewis managing to find his way through to get the first score of the match. In defence Cumnock were almost a solid wall with Cuinn, Reiley and Lewis giving no room for EK to move in the middle and Matthew and Murray slowing the attacks on the wings. After a dropped ball Freya gathered and gave the offload to Ryan who managed to squeeze through and get another score on the board. EK were still finding success of their own on occasion with the game going end to end eventually finishing in a narrow 7-6 defeat for the Blacks.
The final game of the day seen the Reds up against the hosts. Ardrossan started quickly and managed to find their way through on the first play. From the restart Cumnock sent Logan crashing through the middle to get one on the board. Reiley was on hand to gather a loose ball and get the offload to Logan who again powered over. Aaron was showing off his fast feet testing Ardrossan on the wings and finding success with a lovely sidestep back inside to score in the corner. Ewan and Finlay were putting in a strong shift on the wings trying to stop the attacks out wide, while Reiley put in countless crunching tackles. The entertaining game from then went end to end with no team giving up, going try for try until Evan crashed over in the corner for his second score to finish the game a very narrow 10-9 defeat for the Reds.
Blacks - Lewis, Matthew, Cuinn, Reiley, Murray, Freya
Red - Ryan M, Finlay, Aaron, Logan, Ewan, Evan
Report by Sean Fulton