Rugby lads now facing uphill task

Mar 25 2009 by Paul Thomson, East Kilbride News

Rugby lads now facing uphill task

EAST Kilbride Rugby Club ensured that their nail-biting end to the season would continue after failing to build on a promising first period and succumbing to the greater power of Lanarkshire rivals Dalziel on Saturday, eventually going down by 20 points to 15.

There was little to choose between the sides in the first half in the clash at Torrance House to suggest that the home side were fighting for survival in the league this season.

While the visitors still retained a realistic shot at promotion, East Kilbride are still firmly entrenched in the relegation fight.

Through the opening 30 minutes of the match East Kilbride were able to exercise a significant measure of control, albeit that they could not turn their dominance into points.

A single touchdown from top try-scorer Paul Rosie was all that the East Kilbride lads had to show for their efforts.

During the first half the home side displayed their attacking patterns with some precision much to the delight of their fans.

At least they did impress in attack, until they got to within sight of the Dalziel line.

It was at this crucial point that the all too familiar failings of white-line fever and ill-discipline came out from the dark to haunt the East Kilbride side

While players were happy to work as a unit for 80 metres, the chance of glory overcame training field familiarity in the red zone and they became individuals once more and crucial chances were being lost.

Discipline similarly began to take second place behind fame, and it was in this respect that the greater cohesion displayed by the Motherwell side saw them exert an increasing level of control as the match went on.

The visitors claimed two tries, which were helped at both by East Kilbride errors. The first saw attack turned into defence as a loose ‘Duck’ MacDonald pass found Dalziel hands for run in.

And in the second Ian Stevenson failed to tidy-up a stray ball on his own line, presenting the visitors with another easy score.

Defence was uncharacteristically poor with a number of would-be tacklers falling off their man as a consequence of going high in the challenge.

On the plus side, the pack were a match for their much larger opponents in the first 40 minutes, while the backs mixed the game well, either spinning the ball wide to stretch the visitors, or rolling the muscular frame of Grubby Blackwood downhill.

While helpful, the close loser bonus point was put in context by second bottom Cambuslang winning their fourth game of the season to condense the gap between themselves and East Kilbride to nine points – and still with three games up their cuff.

This Saturday, East Kilbride entertain Royal High School in what has become if not necessarily a 'must-win' game, then at least a 'really helpful-to-win' encounter.

Team: 1. McLellan, 2. Aitken, 3. Perry, 4. P. Rosie, 5. Dalgleish, 6. Anderson (captain), 7. Ferguson, 8. Bruce, 9. Stevenson, 10. B. Blackwood, 11. MacDonald, 12. G. Blackwood, 13. Shankie, 14. O'Rogers, 15. Simpson. Replacements, Timmons, McLelland and Little.