Youth Rugby Dominates Weekend Action
With the 1st XV on a scheduled rest weekend from the
league and the 2nd XV match being cancelled by the opposition it was
left up to the youth section to represent Clydebank Rugby Club on the
rugby field this weekend.
Two teams were fielded at U15 and U17 levels with the
U15’s welcoming Uddingston to Whitecrook while the U17 team travelled
along Great Western road to Hughenden to play Hillhead Jordanhill.
The Clydebank U17’s were missing a number of their
experienced players and fielded several new starts in a match against a
team full of talent and experience. The Hillhead players were
looking to make the most of these advantages, however, the smaller
Clydebank team were determined not to give in too easily and it was this
attitude that saw them make it very difficult for Hillhead.
In the first twenty minutes tackles were flying in
from all the Clydebank players and time after time the Hillhead players
were brought crashing down to earth. This spirit was epitomised by Jack
McCombe who produced some excellent tackles all afternoon and one text
book try saving cover tackle on the home team’s Glasgow Representative
No.8.
Eventually Hillhead managed to get on the score sheet
several times in the first half after some loose defending by Clydebank
and turned around at half time with a four try advantage.
The second half followed the same pattern as the
first with Clydebank continuing to match the home team in most areas and
only a lack of experience allowing Hillhead to stretch their lead. The
ferocity of the Clydebank tackling eventually took its toll when two
Clydebank players were injured and had to be replaced.
Hillhead ran out convincing winners but Clydebank
took consolation from their attitude and overall performance and look
forward to their next match.
The U15 team took on Uddingston in a match that
looked like it would provide a barrel load of tries for each team as the
match seesawed back and forth. The potential was not forthcoming
but Clydebank did prevail with a 17-15 win.
Again Clydebank were facing the more experienced team
but this time they had the better of them with the Clydebank forwards
dominating the forwards exchanges.
The Clydebank defence also proved strong as they
twice held Uddingston up over the try line to prevent certain tries.
The Clydebank scores came from tries by Calum Smith,
Andrew Chisholm and Kevin McCord with a single conversion from Jack
Kirkwood.