Cumnock 12 v 45 Marr

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Cumnock 12 v 45 Marr 22/08/90

Cumnock made the short trip to Troon to take on an ambitious Marr side in the final pre-season match before the start of the league season next weekend. The young side were determined to take another step forward after winning both of their previous warm up matches. However, Marr were equally determined not to be upset by a team from the league below and started very strongly with powerful running from their centres resulting in Cumnock conceding two early tries.

At this point in previous seasons Cumnock tended to fold when faced with such obviously strong opposition and allow teams to run up scores more commonly found in cricket. This season, however, promises to be different with Marr suddenly finding their attempts to increase their lead being thwarted by Cumnock’s defence led by forwards Stuart Hunter and Murray Phillip, making his debut for the 1XV, as well as fine covering tackles out wide by Alan Haynes and Conner Nisbet.

Despite this, Marr managed to squeeze in two more opportunistic tries, thanks mainly to their dominance of possession. Cumnock finally got off the mark when half backs Scott Houston and Kyle Johnson tidied up a Marr kick before releasing centre Mark Bennett from deep inside his own half. Bennett stepped past some bewildered Marr defenders before sprinting down the right touchline to beat the covering defence to finish off a trademark long range try in the corner. Johnson missed the difficult conversion but Cumnock finally had points on the board. Marr then added another try of their own just before half time.

Cumnock came flying out of the blocks in the second half, putting pressure on Marr both in attack and defence. Particularly impressive was the scrum with young props Craig Greer and Donald Hunter preventing Marr from getting the easy ball they had enjoyed in the first half. This led to Cumnock opening the scoring after pressure from Haynes and Dougie Elliot led to a loose Marr pass, gratefully gathered by wing Gregor McMillan who tore home unopposed between the posts. Johnson added the extra points.

This led to a long spell of Cumnock setting up camp deep inside Marr territory with a series of scrums five metres out from the try line. Strong scrummaging from Cumnock kept Marr on the back foot but a combination of committed Marr defence and inexplicably pedantic refereeing meant Cumnock failed to make their pressure count. Both David Kerr and Jamie Thomson were held up over the line and Craig Greer put the ball down for what he felt was a try only to find he had scored on the five metre line. Marr managed to escape when a Cumnock line out throw was called as not straight by the referee and disappointingly Marr managed to break out and score.

Cumnock then spent the rest of the game determined to hold out against a rejuvenated Marr side. Fine defence from Tony Foster as well as committed rucking from Cumnock’s forwards and backs alike meant that it looked like Cumnock would be able to prevent Marr from increasing their lead. Unfortunately Marr managed to finally break down the Cumnock defence with a fine solo try from their speedy winger with the last play of the game.

Man of the match was Donald Hunter for an excellent display of scrummaging which bodes well for the new season.

Overall, Cumnock could take a lot from this difficult match against a well organised Marr side who are expecting to compete for victory in their league. The second half performance was especially impressive with Marr on the back foot for long spells.

Team
Craig Greer, Paul Miller, Donald Hunter, Kevin Brady, Murray Phillip, Stuart Hunter, David Kerr, Jamie Thomson, Scott Houston, Kyle Johnson, Gregor McMillan, Mark Bennett, Dougie Elliot, Alan Haynes, Conner Nisbet, Andy McCrorie, Blair McMillan, Tony Foster, Ross Black

Cumnock kick off their league season next Saturday at 3pm against Strathendrick at Broomfield

Chatboard link

Thanks to David Kerr for Report.