Under 16 Report

Allan Glens Under 16s 7 Cumnock under 16s 17

After a 3 week layoff Cumnock managed travelled to Bishopbriggs for what was always going to be a tough game. The fast improving Allen Glen’s team proved to be a stiff challenge in a closely fought contest.

Cumnock got off to a very slow start where they rustiness through lack of games was clear to all. Poor passing and ball retention coughed up ball after ball to a grateful Glens team. Glens struck first when sustained pressure led to a drivew over which was converted. Cumnock stayed on the back heals as they seemed intent in giving away all their own ball. This pattern carried on for 20 minutes until Cumnock started to wake up. Smarter use of the ball saw Cumnock starting to get some real territory which eventually resulted in an unconverted . drive over try for Captain Andy Houston.

Cumnock continues to press and towards the end of the first half Man of the Match, Calum McClounie drove through 3 players before stretching to score. Wallace Findlay added the conversion to make the score 12-5 to Cumnock at half time.

In the second half Cumnock’s retention was better although not perfect. They started to show dominance in the scrum and some clever kicking from Houston kept Glens turning. Robbie Stewart, Jamie Drummond and Jock Welsh led from the front with drive after drive whilst Wallace Findlay came back from a bought of illness to fully contribute to the performance. Scrum half Adam Watt had his usual busy game full of heart and endeavour.

Cumnock went close when a flowing move saw them stretch Glens to breaking only for the last pass to be dropped with the line at their mercy. The believed they had scored again when a cute lineout move saw standoff Houston break though the line. A chip over the full back saw a race to the line which Houston seemed to have won. However the referee never saw the touchdown and awarded a scrum 5.

Glens continued to press but the Cumnock defence was strong especially in mid-field. With minutes to go Cumnock showed their steel again as they drove from their own 22 all the way to 5 meters out where Jamie Drummond bulldozed though for the last score.

Coach Andy Watt commented, “ We were a shadow of ourselves in the first half which was really frustrating to watch. Poor decision making and a casual attitude to keeping the ball saw us under a lot of pressure. However our defence did work well and we were able to restrict a very strong running side to 1 score. In the second half the performance was much better and I felt we controlled the game much better. We got some decent ball to our backs which they used well. We will need to up our game next week however as we play Perthshire away in the Scottish Cup.”