On Saturday August the 18 For a third time since season 2002-03 Irvine knocked Stewartry Rugby Club out of the cup proving to be a bit of a bogey team to the Castle Douglas based Blacks.
Stewartry 29pts Irvine 30pts
Irvine have their sights set on Murrayfield as the first time they beat the Blacks they reached the final of the Bowl only to lose to Annan 23-13.
Irvine kicked off in the windy conditions straight into touch. A feature of the game was to be the strength of the Irvine pack and they gave the lightweight Stewartry a torrid time.
Stewartry made a promising start with a penalty to touch in the corner but after winning possession in the lineout lost it the ball to a knock on.
C Mosey missed a penalty in nine minutes but the pressure was kept on and Stevie McCulloch was over for the first try. It took Irvine ten minutes to get back level with a push over try.5-5.
Minutes later Stewartry were reduced to fourteen men John Kerr yellow carded the first of three in the game. This gave Irvine the advantage to push over for a second try. 5-10.
Minutes before halftime some quick thinking from centre David Kerr saw him take a quick pass from the back of the Stewartry scrum to crash over for his first try. C Mosey add the points for Stewartry to lead 12-10 at half time.
Four minutes into the half saw Irvine lose a defender to a yellow card giving David Kerr the chance to run through the gap for a second score.17-10.
Fifty one minutes and Irvine had closed the gap to two points with a third try this time from a breakaway. 17-15.
Fifty four minutes and David Kerr completed his hat trick of tries after good play from Dawson and McCulloch which saw them break from the Blacks half. C Mosey converted 24-15 with twenty minutes to play.
Irvine were soon back in the Stewartry 22 and again scored in the corner 24-20.
Stewartrys Muir and Mosey took play to the front of the Irvine posts with Steele grabbing the lose ball giving a delighted John Dawson the freedom to dive over for a fifth Stewartry try.29-20.
With ten minutes to go Irvine converted a penalty giving them a final chance to steal the game with a converted try. A second yellow card this time to Stevie McCulloch gave the Irvine the chance which they grabbed with open hands with a third push over try and conversion at the posts to win 30-29 in a hard fought entertaining game leaving Stewartry to concentrate on improving their league position in Tennants West Region Division One which starts away at Strathendrick on September 1st.
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