Cumnock 2nds beat Dalzell

The 2nds got their rewards today with a well fought victory over Dalziel.

The 2nd XV faced a stern test on Saturday when they welcomed a very strong Dalziel 3rd XV to Broomfield for the latest league match. The visitors have been performing well all season and had only been beaten once, so the Cumnock squad knew that they were in for a hard shift.

Gavin Kerr was making his senior debut, and had brought along some moral and physical support in the shape of his dad, Euan who was hoping to get some game time in the same side as his middle son.
The game itself was a hard fought affair with the home side coming out victorious 21 - 10.

There were tries for Greg Hamilton and Euan Cunningham, with Dougie Elliot converting one try and adding three penalties.

The game was well refereed By Mr Clift from Irvine who allowed the game to flow in difficult underfoot conditions.


Pitchero link to Report and Results

Cumnock senior results

Cumnock 26 – 0 Carrick

Cumnock played host to Carrick in a local derby in the latest league match this weekend.
After a disappointing result last week against Clydebank the young side were determined to make up for this by winning at home.
The game kicked off in wet and windy conditions although this did not deter the home side who won a penalty straight from the kick off when the visitors were caught holding onto the ball on the ground. Uncharacteristically, Kyle Johnson pulled his kick to the left of the posts but Cumnock had shown their intent to take control of the game early on.
This was followed up by a strong spell of Cumnock pressure as they dealt with some loose Carrick kicking, allowing full-back Conner Nisbet to run the ball back at the defence. The breakthrough came when several strong carries from Cumnock’s forwards made a good position in Carrick territory. The ball was fed back to stand-off Johnson who, despite slipping managed to chip the ball over the defence. Wing Tony Foster gathered the ball to score in the corner and Johnson added the tricky conversion.
Cumnock continued to put the visitors under pressure and almost added more points when both Johnson and Mark Bennett narrowly missed penalties. Cumnock’s set pieces have been a problem this season and the line out continued to misfire in this game. However, the scrum was much more impressive with the new front row of Rab Donald, Graham Hunter and Donald Hunter constantly putting their opposite numbers on the back foot. Solid scrum ball allowed Cumnock’s backs to use their pace to take on the defence. One of these moves saw the ball released wide and well timed passing meant that Gregor McMillan had the space to outsprint his opposite number and cross the line for Cumnock’s second try. This time the conversion went awry as the conditions worsened with several players losing their footing on the slippery surface.
The first half ended with Cumnock 12 points to nil up and having never looked under pressure from Carrick. The visitors came back strongly after half time and set up a series of driving mauls deep in Cumnock territory after some cheap penalties from the home side. However, stubborn defence from Cumnock kept the line intact and eventually the visitors grew impatient and attempted an unlikely cross kick which was easily dealt with by the defence.
Cumnock regrouped and came charging back at their guests and immediately turned their pressure into points. Mark Bennett made the initial burst through the Carrick defence before feeding his centre partner Alan Haynes with a well timed pass. Haynes had the pace to outstrip the chasing defence and touched down under the posts to give Johnson an easy conversion.
The home side then spent a long spell deep in Carrick territory but struggled to make much of an impression with several handling errors caused by the poor conditions. There was also a lot of aimless kicking with both teams favouring the hit and hope option, relying on their opponents spilling the ball. Cumnock dealt with this better and it was no surprise when Mark Bennett side stepped through the defence to record his side’s fourth try to wrap up the bonus point. Johnson again added the conversion from in front of the posts.
Cumnock showed excellent composure to play the remainder of the game out on their terms and Carrick were never given a chance to get points on the board. Cumnock came close to adding another try when a well placed Bennett kicked was hacked ahead by substitute wing Greg Hamilton who was unlucky to be beaten to the touchdown by the covering defender. The home side continued to play the game deep in Carrick territory until the end of the match, showing an ability to control games which hasn’t often been seen this season.
This was another important step for the young team with their second successive home win topped off with a bonus point. Especially impressive was the fact that Cumnock kept a clean sheet which is a rare feat in rugby which shows the continuing development in this young team.
Alan Smith was man of the match for getting through a lot of the dirty work in the back row that allows Cumnock’s backs the chance to shine.

Team: Rab Donald, Graham Hunter, Donald Hunter, Kevin Brady, Blair McMillan, Stuart Hunter, Alan Smith, David Kerr, Craig McWhirter, Kyle Johnson, Gregor McMillan, Mark Bennett, Alan Haynes, Tony Foster, Conner Nisbet, Jim Ramage, Jamie Thomson, Greg Hamilton

Next Week: Cumnock travel to Stranraer to take on Wigtonshire

Cumnock 3 Allen glens 12

The second team continued to get closer with its form with a close defeat to Allan Glens who currently top Reserve league West Division 3.

game off for 2nd XV on Saturday 29th August

The 2nd team game is off tomorrow but a training session will still be on at 2pm then you can watch 1st team game at 3pm against Strathendrick.

Honours even Cumnock vrs Hyndland

Cumnock 2^nd XV 26 - Hyndland 1^st XV 26

The 2XV welcomed Hyndland to Broomfield on Saturday as the build up to the new league season continued. The visitors were a couple of players short due to work commitments, so Steven Taylor and Roger Thomson (in his first game for several years) volunteered to play for Hyndland.

The game started well for the visitors as they put the hosts under a lot of pressure with good driving play from their forwards. It was after some concerted pressure from the pack that their prop drove over in the 3^rd minute for an unconverted try.

Rab Cross made numerous strong runs in the game and it was from one of these that Greg Hamilton had Cumnock

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s first scoring chance. He cleverly chipped the ball over the defence and outran the fullback, but knocked the ball on while attempting to touch it down.

Hyndland continued to press and it took a great double tackle from Craig McWhirter and Johnny Seng to stop the visitors from going ahead. The game was beginning to even up and it came as no surprise when the home side got their opening try in the 17^th minute. Martin Hastings picked up a loose ball and sprinted in from half way to dot down under the posts. Ferrans converted to take the score to 7-5.

Craig McWhirter was really giving his opposite number a hard time, continually pressuring him into mistakes. After one of his tackles the ball went to Greg Hamilton who ran strongly towards the line, but was tackled by the visiting fullback. McWhirter was unable to gather the ball cleanly.

In the 25^th minute Ferrans broke through a couple of tackles and offloaded to Kenny Barr. The ball was quickly passed from Hastings to Hamilton who tried another chip over the defence. He gathered the ball and twisted over for Cumnock

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s second try. Ferrans made no mistake with the conversion.

The game continued to ebb and flow as the second half got underway. In the 39^th minute a great back from the home side

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s second row almost took him to the try line, but he passed outside to the supporting Seng who crossed over for his first senior try. 19-5. After another excellent break by the backs, the ball was dropped with the line at their mercy. The visitors continued to pose a threat and it was from a series of rucks in the home 22 that Hyndland scored. Roger Thomson drove over from close range to narrow the gap to 7 points.

Back came the home team and after a good break from the backs the ball was recycled quickly from a ruck, Cross and Ramage combined to send Hamilton clear for his second try of the day. Ferrans converted to take the score to 26-12. Hyndland continued to press and were rewarded with a converted try when Roger Thomson chipped the home defence and while the ball bounced unkindly for the home fullback ( his SON!), it bounced straight into the Hyndland fullback

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s arms who touched down for a converted try in the 60^th minute. Hastings showed his awareness when he spotted the defence out of position and chipped the ball for Seng to chase. The ball was kicked out of play just short of the line. Hyndland came straight back up the pitch and after several rucks on the line, they scored a converted try through their second row. Cumnock had one last chance to win the game when Smith mad an excellent break from his own 22, but was tackled just short of the line by Steven Taylor who was playing for the visitors.

Man of the match was awarded to Jim Ramage for his overall support play and encouragement of the several youngsters in the team. Tackle of the day went to Alan Smith for driving the Hyndland prop backwards which was no mean feat. DOD went to Martin Thomson for allowing his father to outwit him.

Squad: Horton, Watt, Cross, Ramage, Linden, Harkin, Smith, McWhirter, Ferrans, Seng, Barr, Hastings, Hamilton, Thomson, Thomson, Taylor, Wallace.

2nds v Allan Glens Sat 25th April

Please note that the kick off has been moved to 2.30pm. Come down and watch the last game of the season and have a few beers afterwards.

Allan Glens won 36-5 and by the noise I heard when I phoned the rugby club, some of them had stayed.

2nds lose at West

The 2nds travelled to Burnbrae to take on the best team in the league on a beautiful spring day. The 18 man squad contained no fewer than 10 teenagers.The game was played in a hard but fair manner from beginning to end, and was well refereed. Cumnock started well and some big tackles were put in, which forced errors from the hosts. The visitors also drove the hosts back at mauls and rucks. However, the toll of those early hits started to tell. The home team threw the ball wide at every opportunity, and they began to find holes in the defence. Half time came with the hosts leading 40-0.Cumnock rallied in the second half and started to take the game to the hosts. There was some excellent driving play, but the home defence held firm. They counter attacked again and again, and scored 4 more tries. Cumnock had the last say in the match when from a penalty 5 metres out, Craig McWhirter was driven over for his first try for the seniors. The West supporters applauded a well deserved try. The final score was 66-5.The WOS website reported : However, this was a predominately young Cumnock side that showed much promise for the future of their club.Well done to all players who never gave up and were rewarded by that try.
Man of the match (as selected by the referee) Graham Hunter.
DOD: ( for missing tackles) Steven Taylor.
Next week sees the final match of the season as Allan Glens visit Broomfield. Kick off is at 3pm, and all spectators are welcome.

Link to Cumnock chatboard

Link to West of Scotland website

Saturday 14th March INCLUDING RESULTS

Link to story on chatboard, come on please can more people join, there is only 17 members, Remember you have to join as a member of chatboard to view it (after verification)

If you are not going to Murrayfield, get down to Broonfield and support the guys who are playing.
The 2nds kick off at 1pm against Hamilton, followed at 2pm by the 1sts against GHK.
Both international matches will be shown on the big screen afterwards.

Result from Alan Hall on chatboard:-

Another defeat for Cumnock 1st XV at the weekend. 50 - 10 against GHK.

Highlight of the day was the two father and son appearances of

David & Euan Kerr
&
Mark & Stuart Bennett - both combined to score Cumnock's only try of the day.

Result from Jim on chatboard:-

There were two highlights in the 2nds game: Kyle Johnston's try after a successful chase and harrying by Martin Thomson. This followed one of Alex's well placed box kicks! The other highlight was Stephen Taylor's outrageous try. Kyle had taken a penalty into the wind, but the wind had held the ball up and it landed in goal. Stephen followed it up and touched down for the try.
The only downside was the broken ankle sustained by JJ.

2008 season 2nd team remaining fixtures

From Jim Morton on chatboard

The league management have made changes to Div 6 with regard to the outstanding fixtures that we have still to play. We now have only 3 games to play to end our league season. The games are:
28th Feb Paisley Home 12.00 kick off
14th Mar Hamilton Away 3.00 kick off
21st Mar Allan Glens Home 3.00 kick off