Excellent Defensive Work Secures Victory

Cumnock started the first period the more lively of the two teams. They attacked Uddingston from the off, moving the ball well with good interchanges between backs and forwards. The rucking was almost of text book quality, certainly better than their opponents and time and again the forwards won turn over ball at the breakdowns. Cumnock tries from Robbie Findlay and Finlay Watson, with a conversion from Jack Reilly saw the home team into a comfortable 7-3 lead at the break.

Uddingston upped the tempo in the second period and scores were traded evenly. Two tries from Sam Yates were both converted by Reilly, while the Uddingston kicker could only convert one of their two tries. Cumnock stretched the lead to 15-10 by the end of the next twenty minutes.

The away team came out with all guns blazing at the start of the final period. Their centre took a quick tap from a penalty and raced down to score while the Cumnock players were bickering amongst themselves about the penalty. The next passage of play saw Uddingston score again, this time with a succession of quick taps while Cumnock were not moving back ten metres. Cumnock saw the game drifting away and this steeled their nerves. Moving the ball quickly upfield to gain territory allowed Gregor Aitken to crash over from a nice move off the back of another ruck. A couple of minutes later the same player scored another in the corner by taking a quick tap penalty while Uddingston were retreating ten metres but with their backs turned. Uddingston scored again but Taylor Howie capped an excellent performance with a try near the end. All the Cumnock scores were converted by Jack Reilly, who was on good kicking form. Final score Cumnock 27 Uddingston 20.

The coaches were enthused by this excellent team performance, with the players showing great levels of skill and commitment to keep going and eventually close out the game just as their opponents looked to steal it from them. Andrew Harkiss was awarded the Man of the Match for some tremendous bulldozing runs and ferocious rucking. The team was grateful for the assistance from one or two older players that helped out on the day.
The team still needs another three or four S1 players so anyone fancying a go at rugby please come down on a Sunday. There will be training at Cumnock Academy astroturf on a Thursday night from 6pm. That is unless you are involved in "mincing" up the catwalk at the Cumnock Academy Fashion Show.

Finally, next week there is a home game against Ardrossan, coaches will advise players of the kick-off time.