Stewartry U15 XV 33-65 Irvine/Garnock U15
The match on Sunday at the Greenlaw kicked off after a respectful minute’s silence and was played in a constant soft drizzle. This made handling a trial for both sides and in several instances mistakes ended with an old-fashioned hack and chase with the ball squirting all over the wet grass.
Despite these trials it started very promisingly for the Stewartry who collected the ball from the kick off and after an initial dart by Peter Young down the blind side, fed the ball to David Martin who sidestepped to straighten the line and cut through the Irvine defence to score. Irvine/Garnock hit back almost immediately with a well worked try as they sent their big runners up the middle.
When Irvine/Garnock kicked ahead in the next passage of play, Lockie gathered it at full back and set up the ruck from which quick passing fed Finlay Telfer who made a long individual run to score the Stewartry’s second try. A long solo run from Finn Bailey resulted in another try for the Stewartry, but then Irvine/Garnock began to dominate the game. They were stronger in both the set pieces, scrums and lineouts, as well as the rucks and won a succession of good possession. At this point the Stewartry had to stand up and be counted in defence. Patrick Quigley was tenacious around the fringes and Fraser Gibson tackled his heart out for the second week running. In the scrums the Stewartry front row of Paddy Traynor, Thomas Unthank and Andrew Bodden began to rise to the challenge of combatting a more powerful opposition.
In the second half, despite another Stewartry try from David Martin, Irvine/Garnock began to pull ahead on the score board, scoring several unanswered tries as the Stewartry defensive line began to thin. Regardless of having to defend the seemingly unending Irvine/Garnock attacks, the Stewartry galvanised themselves for a final effort. Securing loose possession, they set up a series of drives which resulted in Fin Bailey scoring after his second long solo run. Peter Young converted this try, to give a 4/5 success rate on the day, and the team left the field having lost but more significantly, having competed.
