Cumnock 27 Carrick 5

Report by Ian Park

The only problem was Carrick were also unbeaten in the league so the Nock knew they had to be at their best to get anything from the fixture. After a pre match rocket from the coaches Cumnock started strongly and a training ground move fed Michael Anderson to boulder his way through the Carrick pack and score from 22 metres out, Carrick didn’t know what had hit them. Park got the extra points for Cumnock to race into a 7-0 lead.
The game settled down a bit and for much of the time it was fairly even but Cumnock looked the much more dangerous with the ball and their defence, as its been all season, was strong. The second score of the game fell again to Cumnock as winger Conner Hill crossed the line at the end of good hands by the backs. Carrick then worked their way back in to the game and up the field to be camped in the Cumnock 5 metre. The Nock defence tried to frustrate and disrupt Carrick attempts to cross the line which led to Glen Young being sin binned after a warning for persistent penalties. Down to 14 men the Nock defence finally crumbled as Carrick scored to go in to half time with the score 12-5.
As the second half started it became clear that the Cumnock forwards were now well up for the game dominating Carrick in the scrum, winning more than their fair share of lineouts and finally getting to grips with their opponents in the rucks for their best display of the season so far. Not to be out done the backs were wanting in on the action and Bradley Smith was also making big breaks with more direct runs which resulted in him crashing over for the first score of the half.
Cumnock were now camped in the Carrick half continually pressing for more scores and again the forwards drove on for flanker Gavin Gilliland to mop up at the back of a ruck to score. With the game nearing the end and with the coaches criticisms of the previous week hopefully still ringing in their ears, the Cumnock forwards contributed to the move to the game as Bradley Smith made the break but hit the wall of the ever determined Carrick defence, the Nock forwards then drove him a further 15 metres up the park and from the resultant ruck Gavin Gilliland again picked up to score in the corner.
The coaches were impressed by the display and by the way the team played for 70 mins after last weeks efforts where they looked to take their foot of the gas before the game was over. As long as the boys continue to listen to the coaches and work hard they will hopefully continue to improve. With 8 different try scores already this season, it shows how much of a team effort Cumnock are putting in.
Team: M McColm, G Young, J Smith, T Grierson, S Faulds, G Gilliland, R McLaren, M Anderson, A Birrell, G Balmer, C Hill, B Smith, C Park, D West, L Andrew
Subs:, A Smith, T Bell, D McCulloch, R McCrone, R Donnelly