Cumnock's U15 began this season with a number of challenges to overcome so it was testament the work carried out with this team that the visit to Greenock saw them completing a full calendar' of fixtures in Scottish Rugby's Club Youth Conferences.

This game was always going to be a challenge for the Nock side as Greenock had run out worthy winners at Cumnock earlier in the season. Conditions were not ideal with a typical West Coast drizzle in the air so handling was going to be one of the keys to success throughout the fixture. The coaches had identified that Greenock team had several strong runners that would require commitment in terms of tackling if they where to stand a chance in the game. These were words that would return to haunt the team at the end of the game.

The game set off at a frenetic pace that was to set the tone for the duration with both teams fully committed their task. It was the hosts who took the game to the visitors with strong running and offloading taking them deep into Cumnock territory. The opening score came from a failure of Cumnock to clear their lines, Greenock seized upon loose ball and crashed over for the opening score. This galvanised Cumnock and they immediately drove up the park and levelled the scores through a typical Ruairidh Airlie score. The game then ebbed and flowed for a while with no real penetration by either side before Airlie latched onto to short pass and crashed over to take the lead. It was Greenock who scored next largely due to a lack of effective tackling by Cumnock. A Greenock payer stepped through a host of weak tackles running deep into Cumnock territory where he offloaded to a team mate who dotted down under the sticks. An almost carbon copy quickly followed with Cumnock once again adopting some very poor tackling allowing the hosts to score again. Greenock then took a commanding lead with another score just before the whistle taking the score to 24-14.

Half time saw the coaches going to work with some clear instructions that tackling had to improve. The game restarted with Cumnock controlling most of the play but always struggling to string together a prolonged period of possession with handling errors giving the ball back to their hosts when in positions to score. Greenock broke the deadlock with a converted score and it was now do or die for Cumnock. The tams worked well form the next restart and ploughed deep into their host red zone before Team captain Cameron Smith latched onto a quick tap penalty from Evan Smith for a converted score. Cumnock were on the scoreboard again when Arlie ran in a try from distance to make the score 31 – 26 with less than 5 minutes to go. Cumnock’s poor tackling allowed the visitors to make regular forays into their 22 and the inevitable try came with only a couple of minutes left in the game.

Coach Bowditch commented “We need to make sure that our first up tackles are more effective” Coach Reilly added “we cannot compete with any team when we adopt a tackling philosophy such as today. This team can do so much better than the defensive attitude shown today. New addition to the coaching team Jack Reilly also commented “When competing against a team with strong runners it is important to put these players on the ground, the psychological lift that gives to your own team is as huge as the blow it is to your opponent”. The team takes break this week before the resumption of game running up to Christmas.

Team: Arun Cameron-Cooper, Luke Cameron-Cooper, Jamie Kennedy, Keiran Makin, Andrew Rodger, Reece Morrison, Liam Murray, Ruairidh Airlie, Cameron Smith(C), Caleb Askin, Jay Campbell, Iain Stobbs, Callum Scott, Keiran Owens, Lewis Douglas.

The U15 side is still keen to recruit players so if you are interested come along to training on Tuesdays (2000-2100) and Thursday (1800-1900) both at Townhead Park. For more information please call 01290 420292.

Cumnock Rugby Football Club

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