Uddingston’s 1st XV travelled to Ayrshire last Saturday to play Cumnock in their opening Scottish Rugby West Division 1 league game and came away with a well deserved 35-11 win and a bonus point for their effort.
The Villagers demonstrated flair and determination particularly during the first half when they dominated the attacking play and enjoyed most of the territorial advantage. The home side always posed a threat out wide on the break and during the second half, the Villagers lost some of their momentum, which Cumnock were quick to take advantage of, however some excellent defending by the visitors, kept the opposition from going over the line on several occasions.

Uddingston’s first try came in the 8th minute following on from good attacking play by the pack. Going forward with the ball, it was fed neatly across the park to Donald Haldane on the wing who continued at pace to touch down at the posts. Stand off Gordon Burns slotted the conversion, giving the Villagers an early 7-0 lead.
The Villagers continued to press on with their attacking play, taking the game to the opposition and during this period missed out on a couple of try scoring opportunities and had one try disallowed.
Undeterred, the visitors remained focussed on their objective and in the 21st minute, David Haldane had possession and was going forward.  With just 10 metres to the line Haldane off-loaded the ball to Chris Latta running in support who sprinted through to go over the line. Burns was once again on target with the conversion, stretching the Villagers lead to 14-0.
The visitor’s third try of the match came just on the 40th minute when Chris Latta made a break from within his own 22.  Latta fed the ball to Stuart Beresford in support who then slipped it neatly to Gordon Burns who out paced the opposition to run the final 10 meters to go over at the posts.
Burns converted his own try to give the Villagers a comfortable 21-0 lead.
As the game progressed into injury time, Cumnock managed to claw back 3 points from an on target penalty kick taken by Craig McWhirter. The whistle blew for half time and the score stood at 21-3.

With the second half well underway, Cumnock upped their game and in the
55th minute added a further 3 points from a well taken penalty from the boot of McWhirter, bringing the score to 21-6.
Just five minutes later, the Uddingston pack was driving forward with the ball when it was brought to a halt just three metres from the opposition’s line.
A ruck formed and veteran prop Dougie Belmore cleared out the opposition hands which were trapping the ball at the base of the ruck. This enabled Chris Latta to secure possession and feed Stuart Beresford who then burst through a weakened defence to go over the line, securing in the process the try scoring bonus point. Gordon Burns kicked the conversion well and the Villagers were now leading 28-6.
Realising that the game was slipping away from them, the home side put the Villagers under a short period of sustained pressure and were camped just 5 metres out from the visitor’s line. However, the Villagers defence remained solid and they were able to regain possession and clear their lines.

Determined to secure more points, the Villagers continued to go on the offensive and in the 77th minute Chris Latta caught the opposition off guard.  In possession, he took off at pace from mid field and burst down the park outpacing and swerving past the Cumnock defence, to go over in the corner. Despite the tightness of the angle, Burns once again slotted the conversion through the posts to give the Villagers a 35-6 lead.
As the game progressed into injury time, Cumnock secured their only try of the game in the 82nd minute.  A scrum was awarded just 5 metres out from the visitor’s line and as the ball came out for Cumnock it was quickly fed wide to Martin Hastings who exploited a gap in the Villagers defence to go over the line.
The conversion went wide and the whistle blew for full time, the score stood at 35-11 which was an excellent result for the Villagers in their opening league encounter away from home.

Uddingston’s 1st XV will play against Millbrae this Saturday (18th) in their first home league fixture of the season. Kick off 3pm.