Cumnock senior results for Sat 28/11/09

Cumbernauld 30 Cumnock 1st xv 0

After a week’s weather enforced lay off, Cumnock returned to action against Cumbernauld this weekend.

Eerie conditions greeted them with the pitch shrouded in a thick fog. This covered the fact that the pitch was soaking wet. It was never going to be a day for running rugby.
Cumbernauld started strongly with a powerful charge from their winger straight from the kick off. He was eventually hauled down twenty metres short although Cumbernauld retained possession and continued to drive forward through their powerful forwards. Stubborn Cumnock defence kept the home side at bay with some excellent defence round the fringes of the rucks. However, every time Cumnock retrieved the ball and cleared it, Cumbernauld’s solid set piece play meant they kept the ball and continued to drive forward. It was inevitable that they would eventually drive over the line and so it proved when they released the ball wide and exploited a bit of confusion in the defence to squeeze into the corner. The conversion was missed.
The game continued in this fashion with Cumbernauld controlling the possession and slowly but surely building a solid platform. Against this Cumnock continued to defend stoically with several good hits from Graham Hunter and Jamie Thomson on the much larger forwards of Cumbernauld.
However, it is hard to keep this up for ever and Cumbernauld eventually managed to score another unconverted try as well as a penalty. Kyle Johnson missed a tricky penalty in the fog which was to prove Cumnock’s best chance to score.
Cumbernauld also added another score just before half time when their forwards drove Cumnock over the line for their third try which was converted.
The second half was even scrappier than the first, not helped by the increasingly slippy playing surface and the thick fog. The first twenty minutes of the half were characterized by endless scrums caused by handling errors from both teams, not helped by the fact that often the players couldn’t actually see the ball coming in the fog. Cumnock again struggled to impose themselves on the game with Cumbernauld keeping hold of the ball where Cumnock were able to make several good breaks but then being isolated and losing possession. However, Cumnock’s defence was again excellent with Number 8, Jamie Thomson putting in a series of consistently bone shattering tackles backed up with good hits by Scott Houston and Ross Black, making his first start for the first team.
Cumbernauld managed to eventually break through as their winger showed excellent determination to stretch for the line despite a good tackle by Conner Nisbet. The conversion was again missed.
The last few minutes were very similar to the rest of the game with Cumbernauld running hard at Cumnock’s defence although the visitors stubbornly held their line. This was characterised by an excellent try saving tackle from Martin Hastings on his opposite number which showed Cumnock’s determination not to concede despite the score line. Cumbernauld did manage one more in the corner with another missed conversion ending the match.
Despite the disappointing result Cumnock showed a lot of character in adversity as promotion chasing Cumbernauld showed their experience to play the conditions better than the young visiting side.
Jamie Thomson was Cumnock’s man of the match with an outstanding defensive effort.

Team: Craig Greer, Paul Miller, Donald Hunter, Kevin Brady, Blair McMillan, Graham Hunter, David Kerr, Jamie Thomson, Craig McWhirter, Kyle Johnson, Gregor McMillan, Mark Bennett, Conner Nisbet, Tony Foster, Ross Black, Barry Horton, Scott Houston, Martin Hastings

Next Week: Cumnock host Oban at Broomfield in the latest round of league matches.


Garnock 2A 34 Cumnock 2nd XV 0

Cumnock 2nd XV travelled upto Garnock in 2nd XV League action against the team 3rd in the league. Due to late call offs Cumnock only went up with 12 players. Garnock were very kind to give Cumnock 2 players to make it 14 players for Cumnock and 15 for Garnock.

From the kick-off all the Cumnock players moved forward very well, with some positive moves towards the home try line. Cumnock had several phases from the forwards keeping it around itself attacking the try line. Cumnock even had a try disallowed as it appeared it was held up on the try line.

Garnock took the sustained pressure from the first 20 minutes and finally started using its numerical advantage and moved up the pitch and used the overlap to score 3 tries in the first half to make it 19-0 at half time.

Cumnock started the 2nd half with more positive play and continued to have periods of play in the Garnock half. Unfortunately our hooker got injured and we had to change to uncontested scrums. Garnock again gave us another player who had been subbed to join the Cumnock team. Garnock scored another 3 tries in the 2nd half with its numerical advantage to finish the game 34-0.

The Cumnock players were all a credit to the club, who went up to Garnock. Man of the match was Jason Johnstone for his tackling, running in the backs and positional play.

Cumnock 2nd XV travels upto Waysiders/Drumpellier on Saturday 5th with 2pm kick off.

Cumnock team: A. Watt, B. Horton, B. Holland, S. Manning, M Harkin, A. Nairn, S. Taylor, J. Ferrans, K. Barr, J. Johnstone, J. Seng, M. Thomson

1st XV League fixtures updated

The league fixture list has been redrawn after complaints from some clubs about having 3 away games in a row. Here are the revised fixtures:

SRU results page and table

29th AUG STRATHENDRICK H
5th SEP OBAN LORNE A
12th SEP PAISLEY H
19th SEP LOCH LOMOND A
26th SEP CUMBERNAULD H
3rd OCT MILLBRAE A
10th OCT STRATHCLYDE POL H
17th OCT CLYDEBANK A
24th OCT CARRICK H
31st OCT WIGTOWNSHIRE A
21st NOV STRATHENDRICK A
5th DEC OBAN LORNE H
12th DEC PAISLEY A
19th DEC LOCH LOMOND H
9th JAN CUMBERNAULD A
16th JAN MILLBRAE H
23rd JAN STRATHCLYDE POL A
30th JAN CLYDEBANK H
20th FEB CARRICK A
27th FEB WIGTOWNSHIRE H

Cumnock Chatboard Thread

Cumnock 20 Cumbernauld 31 Match Report

Cumnock faced a tough challenge when they took on Cumbernauld in their latest league fixture this weekend. The visitors finished second in the league season and are determined to improve their placing this year. For Cumnock, this was a chance to test themselves against strong opposition after their encouraging start to this season.
Unfortunately the start to this game was less than encouraging as Cumbernauld exploded out of the blocks with only some last ditch tackling preventing the visitors from crossing the try line. However, Cumbernauld were able to open the scoring with two penalties both coming from Cumnock indiscretions at the breakdown.
Despite having almost all the possession, Cumbernauld struggled to turn their dominance into points with some good wide defence from wings Alan Haynes and Gregor McMillan preventing the visitors. Cumnock almost managed to grab a try when a well placed Kyle Johnson cross kick bounced kindly for Haynes who found himself in the clear only to be called back as the referee judged the ball to have been knocked forward.

The visitors eventually managed to break through when their dangerous left winger broke through the defence and slipped the ball back inside to a supporting runner who was left with a clear run to the try line. The conversion went awry but Cumbernauld had finally made the breakthrough and with Cumnock still struggling to gain a foothold in the game as Cumbernauld’s experienced forwards made it difficult to gain any good ball. Cumbernauld quickly scored again when some good quick play moved Cumnock from side to side leaving the defensive line dangerously stretched leaving some simple hands from Cumbernauld to cross again. This time the conversion was scored and Cumbernauld were starting to sense that they could run away with this game.

However, they didn’t reckon on the fighting spirit that Cumnock have picked up this season and finally with ten minutes remaining in the half, the home side started to play some good rugby. The forwards managed to secure some good ball allowing half backs Scott Houston and Kyle Johnson to kick them into good positions and putting the visitors under pressure. Cumnock opened their account after a smart kick from Johnson and a fine chase from centres Mark Bennett and Martin Wilson resulted in a drop from the full back with Bennett gathering the loose ball and scoring under the posts. Johnson eased over the conversion. It only took a few more minutes before Bennett crossed the line again after a powerful hand-off on his opposite number took him through the defensive line. An outrageous side-step took him past the full back before he out paced the covering defence to score a characteristic solo try. Johnson again added the extras and at half time Cumnock found themselves firmly in the hunt, only four points behind despite spending much of the half under pressure.

The second half was a close fought affair with Cumbernauld continuing to dominate possession but finding it harder than the first half to break through the much more stubborn Cumnock defence. However, the powerful Cumbernauld forwards continued to cause their counterparts problems which meant that the Cumnock backs were forced to live off scraps. Cumbernauld added the first points of the half with a penalty to extend their advantage. It took until the last fifteen minutes until any further break through could be made when Cumbernauld finally managed to get the ball to their threatening winger who had been largely nullified in the second half thanks to good midfield defence from Cumnock preventing the ball from reaching him. However, the ball finally made its way out to the wing and he charged through some despairing Cumnock tackles to score in the corner.

Cumnock showed their determination again by coming back strongly, winning two penalties in quick succession which were both converted by the reliable Johnson. However, Cumbernauld had the last say when after a series of driving mauls on the Cumnock line which were repeatedly held up, their number 8 crashed over from a few yards out to complete the scoring and earn his side a bonus point for their four tries.

Despite a disappointing result, Cumnock showed a strong battling spirit, refusing to allow their much more experienced opponents the chance to dominate the match in the way they expected to.
Man of the match was Scott Houston for a good display at scrum half despite spending much of the game under pressure. Special mention also goes to Jim Ramage who stepped into the second row and used his considerable experience to give a reliable presence at set pieces and around the field.

Team: Kevin Brady, Paul Miller, Donald Hunter, Jim Ramage, Blair McMillan, Stuart Hunter, Alan Smith, David Kerr, Scott Houston, Kyle Johnson, Gregor McMillan, Mark Bennett, Martin Wilson, Alan Haynes, Conner Nisbet, Graham Hunter, Euan Cunningham, Craig McWhirter

Next week: Cumnock make a short trip to Ayr to take on Millbrae

Other links

Cumnock 20 Cumbernauld 31

Cumnock 1st xv seniors lost 20 points to 31 today against Cumbernauld in West Division. Match Report to follow:

Cumnock Chatboard

Scottishrugby results and fixtures link

Players - Saturday 26th September

Both sides are at broomfield on Saturday with the 1st XV hosting Cumbernauld and the 2nd XV meeting Paisley. Both games kick off at 3pm. Meet times are as follows:

1st XV meet 1.30pm

2nd XV meet 2pm

Cumnock chatboard