Report by Ian Park

looking to salvage a season that the weather effectively ground to a halt in November.

After only 3 games played since the middle of October the boys were more than rusty but with 2 games in the previous 2 weeks, a hard friendly v Hamilton and the first outing in the cup to GHA, both ended in defeat but the later was a narrow 3-12 defeat that dropped them into the Shield competition. Both games saw the boys showing a commitment and desire that surprised the coaches after such a long layoff.

So for the second week in a row the young Nock team welcomed a big Glasgow club to Broomfield in the Shield quarter finals. As expected Hawks started the brighter team and after 10 minutes Cumnock found themselves 0-7 down but the first score seemed to galvanise the home team who made steady progress up the park and patient set piece play allowed Bradley Smith to score from close in, Alistair Birrell added the conversion to square the game.

Cumnock were now finding their feet, competing well at the breakdown, tackling well and beginning to break the Hawks defence. The second score came in similar fashion to the first, this time Aiden Kerr crossed the line, Birrell again adding the extras to go 14-7 up. There was no more scoring in an entertaining first half.

After the usual half time pep talk Cumnock came out in the second half more confident and the line breaks and turnovers began to rack up in the Nocks favour. The important first score of the second half fell to Logan Naismith to finish, again Birrell slotted the 2 points to put some daylight between the teams at 21-7. The Hawks were contributing to an exciting game of rugby, with a lot of open play but Cumnock’s defence and hard tackling limited their chances.

The high tempo of the game was taking its toll and Cumnock had to shuffle things around but this didn’t disrupt their game plan and it allowed Robbie McLaren the space to stretch his legs at centre to much success, running in two quick tries to move the host clear 33-7. The Nocks final score came from a determined run by Calum Park. The game finished with a rare visit to the Cumnock line by Hawks for a consolation try for a final score 38-12.

It was a great performance by the young Cumnock team who to a man gave everything to move into the semi-final. The team has improved every game over the last 3 weeks and hopefully this will continue. Unfortunately it’s been a stop-start season due the weather and fixtures but the boys recent performances have impressed the coaches with their commitment to the team and also the individual improvement of each player.

Team: Aidan Kerr, Glen Young, Ryan McCrone, Thomas Findlay, Kyle Farrow, Michael Anderson, Sean Houston, Scott Teece, Craig Willison, Robbie McLaren, Calum Park, Alistair Birrell, Tyler Wallace, Logan Naismith, Bradley Smith, Daryl McCulloch, Euan Bell, John Watt

Cumnock Rugby Football Club

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