East Kilbride played Linlithgow from the Tennant’s East League Division 1 in the second of their pre-season warm up matches on Saturday (17th August).
The game opened brightly and it was the visitors that launched an early attack showing intent with long passes that kept the EK defence on guard. It was, however, EK that opened the scoring after 3 minutes when they regained possession in their own 22 and released captain Mark Ellison who ran a good 80 metres to touch down between the posts. EK’s second try came after 12 minutes and it was Aiden Stott that added to his tally (3 last week) when he touched down to complete an excellent handling move involving backs and forwards. 9 minutes later Ian Brown scored between the posts having made a typical Brown run from his position on the left wing brushing aside tackle attempts as he went. Scott Shankie converted this and the next two tries which came from Chris (Thunders) McLellan after 28 minutes and Ian Brown, again, after 33 minutes.
EK started the second half slowly taking a full 15 minutes to add to the half-time score. It was Grant Dryburgh that made the breakthrough when the EK scrum, that had been solid but not dominant in earlier exchanges, drove their opponents off the ball to provide the back division with good ball. The next try came from the much travelled Gary (Gump) Thornton after 25 minutes of the half. 5 minutes later Chris (Thunders) McLellan notched up his second and further scores from Aiden Stott after 37 minutes and Gary Thornton as full-time approached coupled with conversions from Scott Shankie (1) and Grant Dryburgh (2) saw the half-time score doubled to give EK a 62-0 victory.
Overall this was a sound performance. Players returning to the fold, Grant McGibbon and Gary Thornton both impressed. Grant looked lively in the no. 10 shirt while Gary Showed his worth as an impact player coming off the bench to assert himself in open play. Ian Brown also made a big impact with powerful running from his position on the left wing. Young Matthew Smith had a good showing at scrum half and Stewart Henderson brought organisation and purpose to the back division when he joined the fray for the second half. The forward pack as whole showed up well. Their support play was excellent and Paul Rosie, Jonno Ford, Alex Irvine, Christopher O’Neill and Evan Middleton regularly asked question of the opposition defence with their strong running. Although a score-line of 62-0 gives the impression that it EK’s attacking play was their main strength the team’s play in defence was quite outstanding. Linlithgow launched a number of attacks which may, on another day, have led to scores but EK held firm in defence to ensure a clean sheet. Aiden Stott’s tackling was excellent and ensured that the strong running opposition centres did not give EK many problems. While the positives greatly outweighed the negatives in this game the performance was not flawless. EK set out to play the game at pace but there were occasions when they would have done well to slow down, set up and relaunch particularly at those times when the game moved towards the touchlines.
There is no game next Saturday as players travel to Inverary for a final training weekend before they embark on the serious business of league rugby. The team looks good at the moment so with hard work and application they can put the disappointment of missing out on promotion last season behind them and work towards achieving the goal of promotion to the national leagues in 2020.