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

Related articles by Zemanta

• This Saturday 10th October (cumnockrugby.blogspot.com)

Cumnock 3 hillhead 43

It was a tale of 2 halfs for the 2nd xv against hillhead jordanhill.

The away team were a very strong team and dominated the Cumnock team in first half. After strengthing for 2nd half, Cumnock held away team for 43-3 against cumnock.

Team: horton, watt, linden, cunningham, ferrans, harkin, mcculloch, laidlaw, nairn, wallace, mccrorie, mcwhirter, black, barr, hastings, taylor, johnstone, mcpheator, hamilton, seng.

This Saturday 10th October

Cumnock 1 st XV play Strathclyde Police on
Saturday watched by those attending the Friends and Former Players Sponsors
Day.  Over 70 faces from the past and present will join the usual
supporters to cheer on the young Cumnock side against Strathclyde’s
finest.  Meanwhile the 2nds will play Hillhead Jordanhill also at Cumnock.

 

This promises to be the busiest day at the Club for many a
year and hopefully we will have a couple of wins from the 1sts and 2nds to top
it off.

 

Morton Houston

Cumnock RFC Mini Coordinator

01290 552987

07748827836

Mini results for Sunday 4th October

P6

Cumnock P6s had a quiet day against Strathaven losing both their games. However there was a lot of good play especially some of the passing and tackling. Lucy and John Watt, Adam Carballo, Tyler Wallace and Kory Galloway. New player Karl Nelson showed that he was also a natural tackler by felling a number of bigger opponents despite this being his first ever game. Tries from Calum Bell, Cameron Teece, Sean Houston and Stuart Teece lightened up proceedings on a beautiful autumn day.

P7 (From Cumnock Chronicle)

This week the P7 boys played host to Strathaven and with the visitors short of a few players, some of the Cumnock boys stepped up to play against their own team:-

Cumnock 4 Strathaven 0
Cumnock were quick at the start and it wasn't long before they drove through Strathaven's defence. The quick score gave the boys a real boost and they dominated the game right through till the end.

Cumnock 2 Strathaven 4
The second game was more equal and with Cumnock missing some important tackles Strathaven took advantage of this and once they had taken the lead they kept up the pressure on Cumnock and came out the winners.
Team consisted of- Louis Andrew (1), Gavin Gilliland (1), Paddy Dewhirst (1), Kieran NcNally (1), Caelen Wright (1), Callum Park (1), Connor Hill, Alex Smith, Alistair Birrell, Callum Findlay, James Smith, Callum Nicol, Callum Hyslop, Daryl McCulloch, Kane and Glen.

For the next 2 weeks there are no games with training on Sundays at 11am. Training is also on a Wednesday at the Cumnock Academy astro turf parks at 7pm for P6 and P7 players only. P3, 4 and 5s should still turn up at Cumnock Rugby Club at 6:30pm on Wednesdays.

Any player interested in starting rugby should turn up on a training night or call Morton Houston, Mini Coordinator on 07748827836

Cumnock chatboard link

Cumnock Senior reports and results for Saturday 3rd October

Cumnock made the short trip to Ayr to face Millbrae in the league. Millbrae are an offshoot from the main Ayr club, mainly made up of former Ayr players who are still looking for a game at the weekend. As a result their side largely consists of older heads, the complete opposite of the Cumnock side, many of whom are playing their first season of senior rugby. This was always going to a test for the young side against the experience and streetwise nature of the opposition.

However, Millbrae scoring almost straight from the kick off was more due to Cumnock errors than anything else. The kick off was fumbled by Cumnock and Millbrae gratefully used the resulting lineout to set up a series of rucks which they drove forwards, a few yards at a time. Despite some sturdy Cumnock defence, they eventually drove over for the score when the defence around the fringes of the ruck was posted missing and Millbrae gratefully drove through the resulting space to score. The conversion was added and Cumnock were left seven points behind with less than seven minutes on the clock.

Cumnock rallied after this but were unable to make any impression against strong defence. Millbrae were also helped in the first half by a strong wind which meant they could keep Cumnock pinned back deep in their own half. Millbrae used this pressure to score their second when powerful ball carrying from their centres fragmented Cumnock’s defence allowing their forwards to drive over for another score which was, again converted.

Cumnock began to claw back some of the initiative when Mark Bennett and David Kerr linked in midfield off a well worked lineout move allowing space for Conner Nisbet and Gregor McMillan to carry the ball into the Millbrae twenty-two. A harsh decision of holding on was given against Cumnock allowing Millbrae to clear the ball. Despite this move resulting in nothing, Cumnock were determined to get something out of this pressure. It looked set to come Bennett broke through the defence off open play and, seeing support on his shoulder, drew the full back and passed to Alan Haynes who, with the line at his mercy, uncharacteristically knocked the ball on.
This seemed to reawaken Millbrae who added a third try before half time when quick hands left their winger with plenty of space to score in the corner. The conversion was missed but it still left Millbrae with a nineteen point lead at half time.

Cumnock began the second half with the wind at their backs and they used it to good effect when Millbrae conceded a penalty which was eased over by Kyle Johnson. The visitors continued to pressure the older team with several good breaks but they were undone by aggressive rucking by Millbrae as well as some increasingly strict refereeing decisions.
The breakthrough came when Martin Wilson ran a good support line off Bennett and found himself in space. Wilson then drew the full back and passed to Haynes, who held on this time and ran in to score his first senior try. The conversion went awry in the tricky wind.
Despite this try, Cumnock never looked likely to reach the mark set by Millbrae in the first half as the home side used their experience to tighten up the game and prevent Cumnock’s dangerous backs from making any more chances. It is to Cumnock’s credit, however, that they never stopped fighting and kept themselves in the hunt to try and get something out of the game.
The next score came from the hosts when their powerful centre ran through some weak Cumnock tackles to score his sides fourth try, earning them a bonus point. The conversion was added to complete the scoring. The game ended with Cumnock applying pressure to Millbrae but they were unable to score again before the end.
Another week with a disappointing result for Cumnock, although it was another performance with positive aspects, especially in the second half when the young side played some attractive rugby and never stopped chasing the game. However, soft scores early in the first half gave Millbrae a head start in the game which made it hard for Cumnock to recover.
Man of the match was David Kerr for a hard working display in the back row.

Team: Kevin Brady, Paul Miller, Craig Greer, Jim Ramage, Blair McMillan, Alan Smith, David Kerr, Jamie Thomson, Scott Houston, Kyle Johnson, Gregor McMillan, Mark Bennett, Alan Haynes, Tony Foster, Conner Nisbet, Barry Horton, Mark Linden, Martin Wilson

Next Saturday, Cumnock take on Strathclyde Police at Broomfield, kick off 3pm

Cumnock took the journey to Glasgow to face Cartha 3rds in 2nd xv league fixture.

After a couple of late call offs Cumnock went up with yet another youthful team (apart from Bobby Horton). Cartha won 31-0 in another hard fought match.

Cumnock face Hillhead Jordanhill next Saturday at Broomfield.

Kick off 3pm.


Scottish rugby results and table