Cumnock 42 Strathclyde Police 15

On a the former players and friends sponsor day Cumnock RFC beat Strathclyde Polìce 42-15

Cumnock enjoyed a bonus point victory at home against Strathclyde Police this week. The home side ran in five tries in front of a large crowd including many players from the club’s past.

Cumnock started almost straight from the kick off when the Police gave away a penalty under pressure from Cumnock’s forwards. Kyle Johnson slotted the penalty to give Cumnock the early lead although this was cancelled out when the Police’s full back kicked a penalty of their own after a Cumnock player was caught offside.
Cumnock continued to apply pressure to the Police with strong carrying from Cumnock’s forwards and smart kicking by the half backs resulting in another penalty for Johnson which dropped just short although he then added another just minutes later from a similar position. Undeterred, Cumnock continued to apply pressure to the Police defence while controlling the majority of possession. Another penalty went awry for Cumnock when Mark Bennett narrowly missed a long range effort. However, all the pressure meant that a breakthrough was inevitable and it came when Bennett found space in the midfield to step a couple of defenders and sprint clear to score under the posts giving Johnson an easy conversion.
Just minutes later, Bennett was at it again when he stripped the ball off an opposition player and was left with a simple run in to give Johnson another easy kick and giving Cumnock a seventeen point lead.
Cumnock were unable to capitalise on their momentum as the Police started to come into the game and they controlled possession from a long spell although stubborn home defence kept them at bay. However, they finally scored when a well worked backs move was finished in the corner to record their first try. They missed the conversion meaning that Cumnock went into the second half with twenty points to eight lead.
Cumnock started the second half much as they started the first: with a Kyle Johnson penalty. However they were unable to build much on this as a series of unforced errors and soft penalties given away by Cumnock gave the Police a chance to come back into the game. They used the series of penalties to kick themselves into the corner. Cumnock held out against a persistent Police attack with good defence around the fringes of the rucks. Eventually the referee got fed up with Cumnock’s indiscretions in their attempts to keep the police out and sent Kevin Brady to the sin bin.
Cumnock’s defence gave way eventually with a powerful forward drive from the Police resulting in a try which was converted.
This seemed to wake Cumnock up and they started to play some excellent rugby as the increasingly vociferous crowd drove the home side on. The third try came after a loose kick from the Police gave Gregor McMillan the chance to run at the defence. He beat several defenders before being hauled down in the opposition twenty two. The ball was spun wide and a delicate chip from Tony Foster was gathered by Bennett to score his third. Johnson added an impressive touchline conversion.
Cumnock continued to play some excellent rugby as the Police and solid scrummaging from the props Rab Donald and Craig Greer gave a solid platform off which Cumnock’s backs could attack. The bonus point was secured when Bennett again broke the defence and fired a wide pass to Conner Nisbet who ducked under the final tackle to cross in the corner to record his first senior try.
Cumnock found time for one more when slick line out ball from Blair McMillan gave the backs ample time to run a well rehearsed move giving Bennett a simple run in for his fourth try which was again converted by Johnson.
Cumnock can take a lot out of this game with several outstanding performances. Some of the rugby that was played, especially late on in the second half was wonderful to watch and hopefully this will continue for the rest of the season.
Man of the match was Kyle Johnson for an excellent tactical display and some inspired kicking, both out of hand and off a tee.

Team: Rab Donald, Paul Miller, Craig Greer, Kevin Brady, Blair McMillan, Stuart Hunter, David Kerr, Jamie Thomson, Scott Houston, Kyle Johnson, Gregor McMillan, Mark Bennett, Martin Wilson, Alan Haynes, Conner Nisbet, Graham Hunter, Jim Ramage, Tony Foster

Next week: Cumnock travel to Clydebank in the latest league match

Scottish results and table

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