2s enjoy a romp in the sunshine

As regular readers of this website know, EK 2s won their league last weekend and promotion to the next league. But like the true professionals that they are, they consumed only a few lemonades in victory, preferring to focus on winning their remaining three matches.

Our Treasurer, Jim (how much) Blackwood is always bemoaning expenditure on tape and other sundry items, but if this global warning continues, it may soon be sun cream that becomes one of our major expenses.

It was a beautiful day at Cleland, perfect for running rugby and that’s exactly what the 2s delivered. They scored five tries in the first half, the first only two minutes after kick off through Mark Donnachie.

Other scorers were James Mackinnon, Calum Aitken tiptoed up the left wing then he got another from some 40 metres out. The half concluded with Grub Blackwood deciding he could not run a try in from 60 metres so he passed to youngster Duk MacDonald who romped away. It was nearly time to put the clocks back by the time Duk crossed the line!

Master Kicker, aka Bert Blackwood, claimed four conversions but he had an egregious miss in the 18th minute when trying to convert Calum Aitken’s first try. Why egregious? Well, this was used to describe Duncan Weir’s missed penalty last night for Edinburgh and this certainly was in the same class. Not sure what it means – Google it!

Dalziel showed good commitment. They scored two tries in quick succession when only 0-14 down and 7-19 down. And the penalty count against EK was pretty horrific in the first half. Half time score: 12-33.

The second half was (with one exception) all one-way traffic, towards the Dalziel line. The 2s played more sensible rugby, spreading the ball wide much more than they did in the first half, and profited from a tiring Dalziel. Heat stroke must be a new phenomenon in Motherwell.

Mathematicians amongst you will have already worked out that EK scored nine tries in the second half, the first after only 28 seconds through the returning Tony McGurk after a Fat Fergie blast through the middle.

Other tries were scored by Ross (Beans) Hynde, Scott Murphy, Scott Johnston, Richard Beaton, another Tony McGurk try, Craig Ferguson, Andy MacDonald. But the final and best try of the day came from Patrick (hopefully one day soon again, Kicker) Quigg who romped home from some 27 metres (he will claim longer) to loud cheers from the EK support.

Bert Blackwood kicked two conversions before he was subbed, which led to a series of cartoon attempt drop goals by the try scorers, or anyone else who just happened to be walking their dog in the park. Bert also had one awful DG effort but he is forgiven.

Ross Campbell and, obviously, Kicker Quigg were the only successful DG converters.

And one small word of relief – Andy Proctor and some team mates were involved in a car accident en route to the match. Fortunately, no one was injured, although Andy’s car was hurt, and sensibly Andy stood down from the match. Cars are replaceable, speedy wingers are much harder to find!

The crowd's anticipation hastened towards the end of the second half when President Peter Hagerty came on to replace his son, Gregor (Gregor later said he was mortified). The coaching team quickly noticed that there was much less movement from the elder Hagerty, who is a committed right winger. Yvonne Hagerty must be the sole athletic adult in the family.

So, another excellent result, which saw EK claim the try bonus point after 25 minutes. But having been on the receiving end of a hammering, let’s give lots of credit to the Dalziel side for sticking to the challenge and emerging with the final, and much deserved, last try of the day, which they converted.

The referee decided, sensibly to blow for time after 75 minutes – he too must have been confused by the yellow dot in the sky.

You can see lots of photos of the match here, thanks to Aileen Campbell

Man of the Match: it could have been any number but let’s give it to young Roddy Beaton, the full back. It might have gone to John Campbell, who after last week's constructive criticism about his score-keeping, was very attentive at making sure his numbers were correct. So. John, rest assured - your number is not yet up.

Next week: the 2s penultimate match of the season is at Cumnock, with a 3pm kick off. Let’s hope they have similar levels of support to witness their sparkling brand of rugby.