Rugby: Poor first half proves costly for EK

Nov 16 2011 by Paul Thomson, East Kilbride News

A POOR first-half performance saw East Kilbride 21-3 down and with too steep a hill to climb after the break in their match at home to third-placed Irvine.

The visitors capitalised on some weak EK defence to run in three tries in the first 40 minutes, with the bonus point following soon after the break, and while EK came back strongly they could not bridge the gap.

The side contained a number or changes from last week, with the most noticeable of these being the inclusion of Fraser Little at scrum-half, the debut on the wing of Alex Irvine, and a return to colours after two injury-plagued years for Ian Brown.

One of the themes from last week’s defeat at GHK was poor tackling in the backs and although work had been done on the training field during the week the malaise appeared to have spread.

Not only were backs still missing first up tackles but the forwards were too, and this weakness contributed significantly to the visitors’ early tries.

Worryingly, the pack were under the cosh at the set-piece for the first time this season, with the scrum looking particularly wobbly, despite the EK outweighing Irvine.

The second half was significantly better, with EK taking the honours by two tries to one, albeit that they never really got close enough to worry the Ayrshire side.

Frank Ferguson claimed the first from a line-out, before Gary Thornton added a second, with Robbie Greenfield adding the remainder with the boot.

The visitors suffered a couple of soft sin-binnings during the second half but EK could never quite manage to turn the pressure into the necessary points. To go to the book of sporting clichés, this was a game of two halves, but unfortunately EK played so poorly in the first that they were never likely to come out on top despite an improvement in the second.

This Saturday East Kilbride travel to Annan.

TEAM: Mclellan, Anderson, Aitken, C Ferguson, Dalgleish, F Ferguson, Jones, Thornton, Little, Greenfield, Ross, G Stevenson, Brown, Irvine, MacDonald.

Replacements: Timmons, Neilson and I Stevenson.

Elsewhere, the reserves maintained their place atop the league with a terrific 30-27 victory at Annan.

Playing with the considerable slope in the first half EK built up a healthy 30-0 lead after 40 minutes, with two tries from Stevie Lannon, one from Hugh Johnston and a first ever for Dave Cowie.

As was expected, Annan came back strongly in the second half but the big boot of Bertie Blackwood kept EK noses in front.

This was a particular triumph for player-manager Bruce Beggans who had been working the phones all week to cover the bodies called up to fill injury gaps in the first team.

The under-15s also remain top of the pile thanks to a comfortable 60-0 win over local rivals Cambuslang.

Ross Rafferty topped the list with four tries, Mark Donnachie and Steven Thompson grabbed doubles while Craig MacKenzie and Ross Hynde also crossed.

Despite not getting on the score-sheet, Reece Walker claimed the man of the match plaudits for his non-stop graft.

The mighty P6s extended their 18-month unbeaten run with wins over two very strong opponents in Hamilton and Strathaven.

Hamilton were first up and EK had to work hard for their 6-2 victory, with Jamie Robb and Matthew Brown scoring twice and singles for Lewis Brown and Matthew Bell.

The second game was against a Strathaven side which has stacked up well against EK over the last few years, and this was the case again on Sunday.

Strong tackling stints from Jack Whitelaw and Matthew Smith ensured that all Strathaven's possession led to only two tries.

In return, EK ran in scores from Frasier Jackson, Euan Ferrie, Lewis Brown and Robb, and there was an impressive debut from new recruit Connor McGill.

The Primary 5s endured a tough opening encounter against a very strong Strathaven side.

A side with heaps of pace in their backline, they utilised that to the full with a strong tackling pack to boot.

Lucas Aitken and Rory Blackwood scored for EK in a 5-2 defeat.

Stung by this humbling it was a different EK who pitched up to play Hamilton in their second game. Strong tackling from new boy David McGivern set the tone for his colleagues and a more fluent display saw EK run out 8-2 winners with four tries from Blackwood and solitary efforts from Euan Mossman, Cameron MacMillan, Charlie Beaton and McGivern.