Narrow Defeat by Kilmarnock for a 14 Man Stewartry Under 18’s Team

On their own home turff at Greenlaw, Castle Douglas on Saturday November 18th the Blacks got off to a great start with Andrew Budde scoring a try in the first 5 minutes. Stewartry were dominant in the forwards at scrum and line out. Connor McGuire and Kieren McGuire making great runs with ease. Unfortunately Kieren McGuire had to go off with ligament trouble after 15 minutes and Stewartry had no substitutes to replace him. However this did not deter the Blacks who were all over 15 man Kilmarnock for rest of the first half.

Stewartry 10

Kilmarnock 12

The storey was the same in the 2^nd Half, but Stewartry gave away two soft tries from penalties by failing to re-group positions quickly enough. Kilmarnock converted one of the tries, but the other kick was charged down by Alasdair Hannay. The Blacks never gave up and were rewarded by a Pacey Ho try on the wing at the very end of the match. Unfortunately the kick did not go over, leaving Kilmarnock as the winners.

Man of the match was the ever present and ever hard working Alasdair Hannay.

A moral victory for Stewartry however, as they played all the match after the first 15 minutes a player down to 14 through an early injury to Kieren McGuire. Kilmarnock chose to carry on with a full 15 players as they are entitled to, but a poor show of sportsmanship once again from the Ayrshire side. This is something Stewartry Rugby Club are very big on, and have already dropped player numbers on two occasions this season due to the other side being short on numbers (Ardrossan) and injury (Oban).

All credit to Stewartry to a man, who never gave up despite being down on numbers and stuck in right to the end of the game.

1st Half Scores

Stewartry Tries

Andy Budde 1

2nd Half Scores

Stewartry Tries

Pacey Ho 1

Stewartry Team:

Murray Wright

Pacey Ho

Kieren McGuire

Tommy McGrath