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.