Ross Sutherland u18 5 Cumnock u18 0

Report by Ian Park

Cumnock u18’s were against Ross Sutherland, in Invergordon.

The 5 hour bus trip north started early but ran like clockwork including time for a snowball fight in blizzard conditions in Aviemore and the Kerr boys suffering some strange altitude sickness. However by the time the bus dropped back down to sea level Invergordon was clear of snow and the game went ahead in a freezing north wind.

Cumnock took the tactical decision to play into the strong wind from the start which limited their gameplay with kicking a difficult option. As the score indicates it was a dour battle with both teams cancelling each other out and scoring chances were limited by good defence and terrific tackling from both sides. The breakthrough for Ross Sutherland came late in the first half from a penalty 10 metres out. For the first time in the game the Nock defence was not set and didn’t advance on the elected tap penalty allowing the Staggies centre to crash over for a cheap first score. The conversion was missed to keep the score at 5-0 at half time.

The Cumnock coaches were happy enough at half time and would have taken the 5 point deficit at the turnaround to be playing with the strong north wind the second half. The game of attrition continued with neither side willing to give in, unfortunately the wind was disrupting the play of both teams but Ross Sutherland were dealing with it marginally better and their rush defence was adding to Cumnock’s troubles.

The game opened up as both teams tired and it rumbled from end to end with no decisive score and with only a single score between the teams the game was still there to be won by either team. Right to the end the Nock coaches were hopeful of the winning score but it wasn’t to be, as both defences held firm for the game to end 5-0 to the home team.

Cumnock didn’t play particularly well on the day, or it could be that Ross Sutherland didn’t let them play. The home team played with a bit more intensity on the day and that was enough to separate the sides with Ross Sutherland going through to play Melrose in the semis.

The 5 hour return journey south turned into almost 8 hours as the bus was delayed on the snowbound A9. By the time the team returned home, now scraping into Sunday, it had been over 450 miles, 18 hours on the road and defeat by a single try, but all in all it had been a good day out despite the score.

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