Cumnock U15 32 Marr U15 10

Report by Morton Houston

Once again Cumnock turned about a heavy start of season defeat last year to record a very good win.

This really was a game of two halves. Cumnock took apart a strangely subdued Marr team in the first half through some aggressive forward play and neat finishing in the backs. The Cumnock forwards seemed to have the upper hand and consistently put their backs on the front foot. The home defence also looked robust and managed to hold Marr in check. The only criticism of Cumnock was their ball retention with far too many turn overs in the first half.

Tries came from Jamie Drummond, Captain Wallace Findlay, Dylan Chidwick, Rob Drummond and Jock Welsh. The pick of these tries and perhaps the most surprising one came from Welsh on his first ever game for Cumnock and only his second ever game of rugby following a school game midweek. From a kick off he jumped high to secure the ball, side stepped the oncoming defence, ran round their winger and ran through a full back tackle before racing 50 metres to score. This is perhaps the best first touch ever for a new player at Cumnock.

In the second half it was a different story, the real Marr team turned up and showed a great blend of dynamic running and off loading. This tested the Cumnock defence to and beyond breaking point. Marr earned 2 tries and had 3 chalked off for being held up. Cumnock managed just one in reply but that was beauty for Jamie Drummond off a set lineout move.

Coach Morton Houston commented, 2 The first half performance really clicked and the boys showed some great skills to claim their scores and keep Marr out. In the second half Marr showed a lot of quality to bounce back and our boys seemed to switch off a bit. A raft of changes to expose players to new positions didn’t help and probably caused us to lose our shape. However a 6 tries to 2 win over Marr whilst slightly flattering, is much more welcome than the defeat we received from them at the start of last season.”

Next week Cumnock 15s are away to Greenock. Training continues at the rugby club at 6:30 Tuesdays and Thursdays.