Perthshire 18 Cumnock 12

Cumnock produced a brave performance full of hard work and commitment to go very close to beating Perthshire in the Scottish Under 16 Cup. On a beautiful day for rugby Cumnock got off to their customary slow start as Perthshire pegged them back in their own half before scoring first with an unconverted try in 6 minutes.

Cumnock seemed to wake up and started to use their powerful forwards to punch holes in the Shire defence. This sustained pressure eventually saw standoff Andy Houston score in between the posts for a try converted by Captain Wallace Findlay.

The game went from end to end as Cumnock shot themselves in the foot with repeated penalties for high tackles and not rolling away. This ultimately led to a yellow card for second row Robbie Stewart. As the half drew to an end Shire scored a penalty then an unconverted try for a 13-7 half time lead.

In the second half both team raised their game and served up a cracking cup tie. Cumnock looked most dangerous when their forwards took the game to Shire and it was from one such attack that Jock Welsh piled over to bring Cumnock to 1 point behind.

Cumnock were much more in attack when the Shire number 10 latched onto a loose ball and side stepped though the despairing Cumnock defence for a 70 metre stunner.

With 10 minutes left it was all Cumnock as they launched attack after attack. Jamie Drummond and Jock Welsh were held up over the line whilst Houston and Ross Marr went very close. Drummond seemed to have scored but the referee judged the ball to be held up and one last attack saw Welsh held up over the line as the referee blew for full time.

Coach Mark Van Der Leest said after the game, “ The boys are very disappointed however they should be really proud of their performance. The matched a really strong team and didn’t deserve to lose. Some of the performances such as those from joint men of the match, Euan Wallace and Robbie Stewart, were brilliant and all the players contributed to an impressive team performance.”

Cumnock Rugby Football Club

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