Cumnock U16 15 Irvine U16 7

Report by Ian Park

Cumnock kicked off and straight away it was obvious Irvine had improved in the intervening period since Cumnock had won at Irvine earlier in the season. While Cumnock had most of the early play Irvine’s defence stood firm and Cumnock were unable to finish off many of their planned moves. With much of the game getting bogged down in an error strewn tussle in the centre of the park it was obvious to all but the players that they needed to get the ball wide to profit. Eventually Cumnock did just that with Alex Smith scoring in the corner after good hands by the backs. Park was unable to convert the extra points for the score to remain 5-0 at half time.
The Cumnock forwards were once more putting in a shift dominating the scrum but unfortunately they couldn’t build on the possession. Irvine were right back in the game in the second half with most of the game now being played in the Nock half. Great defence kept the visitors at bay on more than one occasion, when there seemed to be no way through the Cumnock defence a neat cross field kick from the Cumnock 10 metre line resulted in Irvine’s first score, which was duly converted to lead 5-7.
Now behind and frankly not playing particularly well Cumnock’s character was now being questioned but the boys rallied and a drive up the park resulted in a penalty in front of the posts which Calum Park placed through the middle of the posts to take a slender lead 8-7. Cumnock continued to struggle to get the ball wide between handling errors and wrong decision making they couldn’t make any of their possession pay. However, the Nock finally crossed the whitewash again as prop Ross Donnelly was carried over the line to score, Park added the extras for a 15-7 lead. Irvine never gave up but Cumnock’s defence held firm to close out the game.
It was a case of winning ugly for Cumnock and while they didn’t play well the boys showed great character and a strong will to win. However the coaches are looking for an improvement as they know there is better to come from this group of boys who need to start believing in themselves.
Team: R Donnelly, G Young, J Smith, T Grierson, G Gilliland, D McCulloch, R McLaren, M Anderson, A Kerr, A Birrell, G Balmer, C Hill, B Smith, C Park, D West, L Andrew, A Smith, R McCrone, T Wallace, L Naismith, S Houston, S Faulds