Alan Glens 24​ Cumnock 10

Report by Ian Park

The winner getting a home tie, the losers away to a Highland club.

Both teams qualified for the National Bowl competition as current league leaders and are unbeaten in their respective leagues. Unfortunately the weather was to have the biggest say in the game with strong winds and the respite from the driving snow was driving rain. It was down to which team could capitalise on the conditions.

Cumnock started with the advantage of the wind in the first half and took the game to the Glens, twice crossing the line in the first 10 minutes only to be held up and then penalised for a double movement. Each Cumnock attack was making inroads into the Glens defence but their scrabbled defence was enough to keep the Nock from scoring. Finally Cumnock took the penalty option for the first score of the game, Jack Reilly kicking over for a well-deserved 0-3 lead.

As time ran down on the first half Alan Glens started to break into the Cumnock half and against the run of play scored in the corner, giving the kicker no real chance against the wind for the extra points, to take the lead 5-3. Just as it looked that the Glens would get to half time in the lead Cumnock mounted another attack, the forwards had been making ground all game through the maul, against a bigger Glens pack, and another driving maul set up the opportunity of their first try with Stephen Robson finishing off the move, Reilly kicked the troublesome extras on half time to go in 5-10.

After a half time debate between the referee and coaches on whether the game should continue due to the conditions, the game restarted due to the commitment of both sets of players who were still keen on playing much to their credit.

For the most part the second half mirrored the first but this time in the Glens favour, the only difference was they used the wind more to their advantage than Cumnock had in the first half. With no early score the Glens tried their luck with a penalty from about 35 metres only to strike the post. However, their first score was only delayed as they their persistence resulted in the first score of the second half to again take the lead 12-10.

Up until now it had been an even, competitive game but as the conditions deteriorated the Glens started to probed wind assisted kicks deep into Cumnock territory keeping Cumnock on the turn and the Nock struggled to keep the ball long enough during their attacking phases to make it count. In the end it was the Glens strong runners in the backs that won the game as they scored two late tries from their own half to win 24-10.

Both teams produced a performance that belied the conditions and despite the result the Cumnock coaches were full of praise for the boys effort and commitment. Coach Euan Kerr was so impressed he even stopped the bus at McDonalds on the way home as he was quietly hoping for a trip to the highlands.

Big trip next week but with only 16 teams left in Scotland in the both cup and bowl competitions its shows how far the boys hard work have taken them and just what an opportunity this is for a club like Cumnock to play against the best clubs Scotland have to offer.

Team: Gregor Aitken, Thomas Bowditch, Calum Park, Bradley Smith, Dale West, Jack Reilly, Aidan Kerr, Stephen Robson, Glen Young, Jamie Lorimer, Allister Elliot, Ryan McCrone, Andrew Harkiss, Michael Anderson, Robbie McLaren, Craig Willison, Gavin Gilliland, Thomas Findlay, Ross Haddow, Cameron McGuire