Cumnock 54 Braidholm 5

After having no game last weekend, Cumnock were raring to go for this cup match against Braidholm.
The visitors are currently two divisions below Cumnock but they are leading their league and fancied their chances of causing a cup upset. However, Cumnock showed some class in recording a comfortable win in difficult conditions.
It was apparent straight from the kick off that heavy rain the night before had saturated the pitch with several players losing their footing and several handling errors which normally wouldn’t happen. The home side took the initiative in the opening exchanges of the game, soaking up Braidholm’s early attempt to drive with their larger forwards before turning the ball over and clearing the ball down the pitch. Braidholm won their lineout but a poor clearance from their stand-off meant that Cumnock were able to counter attack with the ball being spread from one wing to the other. It found Tony Foster in plenty of space to race past his opposite number to score. Kyle Johnson added the conversion. Cumnock continued to press the visiting team with some exciting line breaks and handling skills on display despite the pitch.
Also impressive was the linking between backs and forwards with the forwards running good angles to punch through the defence before offloading to the backs in space. Indeed several tries could have been scored but for several handling errors, some of which could be put down to the poor conditions and some couldn’t. However, Cumnock were soon back on the score sheet when Mark Bennett crossed the line after some clever interplay between backs and forwards. Kyle Johnson added the conversions before finishing off the next Cumnock try after sidestepping at least three Braidholm defenders. He converted the score to give Cumnock a solid lead.
Braidholm then had their best spell of the first half when they decided to kick the ball high constantly causing problems for the Cumnock back three on the slippery pitch. They kept this up for a long spell keeping Cumnock on the back foot despite never really looking likely to break the line or score. Cumnock, on the other hand always looked dangerous with the ball in hand and as soon as they recovered the ball from Braidholm and immediately broke up the pitch through Craig Greer who passed to Bennett before the ball was fed back to Greer who touched down with Johnson again adding the conversion. Cumnock were at it again when openside flanker, Alan Smith picked a good line through the defence before feeding Alan Haynes to score. Johnson missed the conversion from out wide to end the half.
The second half started well for Cumnock when Bennett gathered a long kick from Braidholm and set of through the defence to score after a neat exchange of passes with Smith. The reliable Johnson again added the extras. However, the rest of the second half was tight as Braidholm kept the ball tight to prevent Cumnock’s dangerous runners from causing them further strife. Braidholm’s patience eventually earned them a try after several phases sucking the defence giving their winger space to squeeze into the corner.
Cumnock took the chance to try a new style using their forwards to keep the ball tight which worked fairly well but they didn’t ever seem likely to score when doing this. It took until the last ten minutes before they scored again after a quick penalty caught Braidholm napping and the ball was spun wide with Bennett again getting on the end of the move to score with Johnson converting. Bennett finished the game after breaking through the tiring defence to score from well inside his own half. Johnson added the conversion to complete a comfortable win for the young home side to continue their impressive home form. This was a reasonably easy victory for the home side against a stubborn Braidholm side and bodes well for the second half of the league season and hopefully a continuing run in the cup.
Man of the match was Mark Bennett for adding another four tries to his considerable tally this season.

Team: Craig Greer, Paul Miller, Donald Hunter, Kevin Brady, Blair McMillan, Graham Hunter, Alan Smith, David Kerr, Craig McWhirter, Kyle Johnson, Gregor McMillan, Mark Bennett, Alan Haynes, Tony Foster, Conner Nisbet, Jamie Hodge, Scott Houston, Ross Black

Next Week: Cumnock resume league duties away to title challenging Strathendrick

Report by David Kerr

Pitchero link to report and results

Cumnock mini/midi results from Suday 6th September

S1 Report for Suday 6th September

Kilmarnock 11 - Cumnock 15

Cumnock travelled down to Kilmarnock for their opening game of the season, minus a few experienced players and with one new face. Moving up from the mini-section to play midi-rugby is always a big step, introducing more of the laws of the game and playing on a full size pitch. Kilmarnock are always a well drilled team and this would be their third game of the season, giving them the edge on Cumnock, or so it was expected.

The game was to be played over three 15 minute periods and Cumnock started the first period well. The backs were very sharp in setting up their alignment and the forwards were getting around the pitch well. However, the larger Kilmarnock pack were winning some good ruck ball and were putting the squeeze on at the scrums. Nevertheless, some quick thinking allowed scrum-half Aiden Kerr to pick the ball from the back of a scrum and squeeze through the Kilmarnock defence for the first score, converted by Jack Reilly.
Reilly added to the score with a good try and converstion just before the interval.

During the break the coaches were able to speak to the forwards regarding body positions at scrums and rucks and straight away there was an improvement in this part of their game. The forwards were winning their fair share of ball at the breakdowns and the backs were linking well and created a number of over-laps, which unfortunately weren't used. The teams traded scores with Reilly again scoring a try following a move from a penalty inside the Kilmarnock 22.

In the final part of the match Kilmarnock ran in two fine scores from deep, missed tackles letting the winger through, however one of the conversions was missed. Kerr scored again, with Reilly adding the extras, for Cumnock rounding off a fine performance for the whole team. Tackler of the day was Gavin Wight, playing in his first ever rugby match and man of the match was Scott Faulds who ripped the ball from the opposition at will.

Cumnock team was R.Phillips, R.McLaren, C McKenzie, Z North, S. Faulds, A Harkiss, A Kerr, J Reilly, G Aitken, T Howie, G Wight, E Hendrie, with AN Other from Kilmarnock.

The coaches are on the look-out for more S1 players to add to the team so if you fancy TRYing out rugby SCRUM on down to Broomfield on a Tuesday and Thursday night at 7pm.


Report by Kevan Aitken

s1 Report link to Cumnock chatboard

Primary 6 Reports

Cumnock P6 10 Kilmarnock P6 10

The first game in the season for the P6s was a belter with loads of tries to thrill the support. Both teams were full of talented runners in what turned out to be end to end stuff.

There were 3 tries each for Jack McSeveney, Sean Houston and Scott Teece as well as a well deserved first score for Lucy Watt. There was another try scored by a Cumnock player as Lucy’s brother John scored “on loan” to Kilmarnock . The game had loads of tenacious tackling especially by new boy Cameron Teece who put in big tackle after tackle.


Cumnock P6 7 Kilmarnock P6 5

In the second game the tries flowed once more and the quality of the game improved. Tyler Wallace showed up with some great tackles and good inter passing and Korey Galloway was involved in everything with a permanent smile on his face. Tries followed from Jack McSeveney, John Watt, Scott Teece (2) and Sean Houston (3). Coach martin Wallace picked out Scott Teece for the man of the match award for his hard tackling, bullocking runs and 5 tries. Martin commented, “ this was a great performance from the players in their first game. They scored some great tries and really enjoyed themselves.

We could do with a few more players and anyone interested should turn up at training at 6:30 on Wednesday nights or call Morton Houston on 01290 552987.

Thanks to Morton Houston for reports

Cumnock P6 Reports link to chatboard

p3-p5 Reports

P3/4/5

The new season got under way with Cumnock playing host to local rivals Kilmarnock

Kilmarnock 8 Cumnock 2

Cumnock got of to a slow start in their first game allowing Kilmarnock to take an early lead which Cumnock was always going to struggle to pull back, but as the game progressed the Cumnock boys showed signs of improvement with tries coming from Zak Donald and Ross Watson.

Kilmarnock 4 Cumnock 1

Cumnock started this game much stronger and were only one score behind at 1/2 time. The second 1/2 saw Kilmarnock pulling away again but overall a much improved performance from the Cumnock team with the home sides try coming from Alex Houston the Cumnock squad today were Alex Hill, Matthew Morrison, Jamie Kennedy, Blair McNally, Ross Watson, Adam Watt, Alex Houston, Austin McBirnie, Kieran Vance, Ryan Kennedy, Zak Donald and Rob Drummond.

We are always looking for new players, anyone interested in giving it a try come along to the Rugby Club on a Wednesday night at 6.30pm or call Andrew Watt on 01290 553095

Scotland Under 17 Squad set to train in Spain

Cumnock Chatboard thread

As part of their development to U18 age grade level, a squad of 30 Scotland U17 team members will set off for Valladolid
in north-central Spain tomorrow (2 July).

The players, management and support staff will spend an intensive fortnight at the camp where the focus is on technical,
tactical, mental and physical (strength and conditioning) training.

An 8am start each day for physio and gym work, an enforced rest in the middle of the day given the climate, then training again at 6pm,says Bryan Easson, Scotland U17 Head Coach.

Added to that there are unit sessions, group sessions and one-on-one goal setting sessions with the coaches an intensive programme, designed to teach the players how to be professional athletes and to give the coaches an all-round idea of the players.

The camp led by Scotland U18 Head Coach, Grant McKelvey, with strength and conditioning from Val Houston acts as the transformation period for the young players from the U17 to U18 development side, where they will move into the hands the U18 coaching team following a further assessment camp in September.

This is the third year that Scotland under-17 squad has benefited from the facilities at Valladolid. The 30-strong squad includes 12 players new to the group due to injury, unavailability and deselection since their successful participation at this year Millfield Festival. The camp is run through Cumbernauld College with funding from the European Community programme, the
Leonardo da Vinci Trust (the criteria of which prohibits team travel within a teams own country).
Catch up with the Valladolid training regime via a players blog on the Scotland U17 web site.

Scotland U17 Development Squad
Robin Hislop (Hawick Wanderers) Prop
Gavin Robertson (Earlston HS / Melrose) Prop
Alex Allan (Sedbergh School) Prop
Struan Cessford (High School of Dundee) Prop
Jack MacFarlane (Gourock HS / Greenock Wanderers) Hooker
Ryan Hood (Strathallan) Hooker
George Turner (Stewart’s Melville College) Hooker
Fraser Wem (Hampton School / Wasps) Second row
Craig Ferguson (East Kilbride) Second Row
Sean McDevitt (High School of Glasgow) Second Row
George Barnes (Chesterfield) Second Row
Mitchell Eadie (Filton College) Back Row
Malcolm Peathingy (George Watson's College) Back Row
Matthew Walker (Boroughmuir) Back Row
Andrew Nagle (Jed Thistle) Back Row
Adam de ste Croix (Boroughmuir) Back Row
Murray McConnell (Lenzie Academy / West of Scotland) Scrum Half
Johnny Adams (Aberdeen Grammar School) Scrum Half
James Munro (Edinburgh Academy) Scrum Half
Fraser Gillies (Edinburgh Academy) Stand Off
Jack Bradford (Worksop College) Centre
Michael Crawley (Stewart’s Melville College) Centre
Murray Beckwith (Marr College) Centre
Mark Bennett (Cumnock RFC) Centre
Jamie Urquhart (Dollar Academy) Centre
Stewart Hogg (Hawick Wanderers) Centre
Douglas Day (Paviours RFC) Centre
Harris Jones (Robert Gordon’s College) Back 3
Aidan McCall Hagan (St Aloysius’ College) Back 3
Ross Inglis (Calderside Academy / Hamilton) Back 3

Scotsman article from 1st July:-

Scotsman article link

Public school system provides bulk of Scots under-17 squad


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Published Date: 02 July 2009
A 30-STRONG Scotland Under-17 squad will fly out today for a two-week training camp in Spain.
A glance in the brackets after the names of those selected reveals Scottish youth rugby remains reliant on the public school base, with more than half of the squad coming from that system, but only four players come from another traditional heartland – the Borders.

There are 16 players from private schools – 11 Scottish and five English. Of the rest, six come from state schools and eight from clubs. The regional breakdown is pretty even with Borders (4), Glasgow (8), Edinburgh (7), Caledonia (5) and England (6).

The players, management and support staff will spend an intensive fortnight at the camp in Valladolid, north-central Spain. The focus will be on technical, tactical, mental and physical strength and conditioning. The camp, led by Under-18 coach Grant McKelvey, acts as the transformation period for the youngsters from U17 to the U18 development side.