Fintry Flourish Foils Clydebank
Clydebank 1st and 2nd XV squads were both away from home and
struggling to field teams as a number of players were unavailable or
injured. As a consequence the results went a begging when the 1st XV
lost 22-15 away to Strathendrick and the 2nd XV lost 7-0 away to
Paisley.
The 1stXV have had a good record against Strathendrick in recent
years and were more than capable of overcoming them away at Fintry. However, an overtly aggressive Strathendrick side combined with a ten
minute spell of madness from the Clydebank defence managed to put a stop
to Clydebank's ambitions on the day.
With the expected wind and rain surprisingly missing the
match looked as though it would be a show of free flowing
rugby.
Clydebank started briskly by converting an early penalty to
take the lead on three minutes. However, Strathendrick took control of the match for
much of the first half by playing mostly in the Clydebank
half.
A Strathendrick drop goal was missed on eight minutes
followed by a second attempt after twenty minutes.
The later stages of the first half saw Clydebank come back
into the match when they were awarded, but missed, two
penalty kicks on the half hour mark.
Clydebank were making penetrating runs into the
Strathendrick half in the last ten minutes with Graeme Kyle
and Don Ross leading the way. On thirty five minutes Kyle broke through and was
taken down by the Strathendrick defence. The Strathendrick prop took offence to Kyle’s run and
proceeded to punch uncontrollably at Graeme.
When the blows stopped and the referee regained control he
sin binned the Strathendrick prop and inexplicably also sin
binned Kyle.
With both teams down a man and Clydebank having suffered the
worst of the two, Clydebank set about their attacking
position once more. Several phases later and Clydebank were
on the Strathendrick line.
The ball came back to Ross Moffatt who passed out to Don
Ross on the wing. Don crossed the line for the first try to extend the
lead to 0-8 just before half time. The conversion was missed.
The second half should have seen Clydebank take control but
the first ten minutes saw them lose concentration and had
Strathendrick crossing the line for two tries, converting
one, to take the lead 12-8. The situation was not helped by Strathendrick
starting the half with the full complement of fifteen
players even though their prop was still in the sin bin.
Strathendrick proceeded to control the second half, missing
another drop goal on twenty minutes and extending their lead
on twenty five minutes with a penalty, closely followed by
another converted try. Strathendrick made use of the referee’s unsighted
positioning to repeatedly play the ball on the ground and
regain possession in important areas of the pitch.
The score was now 22-8 and Clydebank looked well out of the
match.
With ten minutes to go Clydebank had a break by Colin Dow
down the wing which saw Clydebank get back into the
Strathendrick half, where they would stay for the remainder
of the half.
Clydebank took the play to the Strathendrick forwards who
were now being repeatedly penalised for playing the ball in
the rucks. The
referee eventually had enough and another Strathendrick
player was sin binned.
Several moves later the ball was released from a ruck and
Howie crossed the line for the try. Ross Moffatt added the two points and brought the
score to 22-15, which gave Clydebank the bonus point.
Although not a win it is a respectable result away from home
against a strong Strathendrick squad.
Team Photo
The 2nd XV match was a reversal of last weeks fortunes when
they lost away to Paisley. Paisley overcame a bout of recent
misfortune to combine well to deny Clydebank any chance at scoring in
this match.
A single converted try to Paisley was all that
separated the teams in the end.
The U17 team played Hamilton in the league and lost by three
tries. The Clydebank defence was superb but their attacking let them
down.
The centre partnership of
Robert Stephenson and Rhys McAllister cut down the Hamilton
attack in open play but the wandering minds of the forwards
when defending penalties close to the line allowed Hamilton
to score.
The U15 side played Paisley in a friendly at home and lost
38-7 with the only Clydebank points coming from Andrew
Chisolm who scored and converted the only try.
The Minis combined once more with Loch Lomond to play
Uddingston at home.There were three matches played with the results
close.