IRVINE RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB

The match had to be switched to the venue - normally used for Waysiders' 2nd XV fixtures - after overnight rain left the club's 1st XV pitch unsuitable.

The match itself was frankly not the best advert for either team - a situation admittedly not helped by the weather, which made playing attractive rugby all but impossible - but Irvine will take the win, which assures them of third place after Glasgow Accies lost at home to East Kilbride, as they look to lay the foundations for a successful 50th anniversary season.


It started promisingly enough, with Waysiders fly-half Tom McDougal falling short with a drop goal attempt after 5 minutes, before Irvine embarked on a promising move with Ruchin Filander and Kris Hobson making prominent runs. Hobson was eventually stopped in his tracks, albeit illegally, and the Irvine fly-half stepped up to edge the visitors in front with 9 minutes on the clock.

The lead lasted six minutes. David Kirkwood gathered the kick-off but a forward pass was called against Irvine as they looked to build out of defence. From the resulting scrum, the home side worked patiently upfield and forced a penalty. The Irvine defence held firm and looked to have weathered the storm when a forward pass was ruled against the hosts. Unfortunately they were unable to secure the ball at the scrum and the home side forced their way over for an unconverted try through lock Stephen Wilson.

Irvine tried to respond, and saw a fair amount of the ball in the next ten minutes as the hosts' discipline began to desert them, but they were unable to capitalise.

The visitors were frustrated again on 29 minutes when Filander thought he had intercepted after a Waysiders handling move broke down, only for the referee to rule a knock-on. A few minutes later, Euan Morrison made a dangerous run into the Waysiders half for Irvine, but they then tried to be too elaborate on the next phase and another move broke down.

McDougal could have punished Irvine for their profligacy on 38 minutes when he opted to go for goal with a penalty in the Irvine half, but he was unable to find the target and the score remained 5-3 to the hosts at half time.


The match exploded into life four minutes into the second half when a penalty against Irvine for collapsing a Waysiders maul led to a bout of fisticuffs on the far touchline, for whose alleged parts in which Irvine's Stuart Docherty and Waysiders' Andy Bozlam were sent to the sin bin.

McDougal missed touch with the penalty, which appeared to set the tone for the power play, as Irvine played the better of what rugby there was during this period. A nice handling move in particular taking in Ruchin Filander, Kevin Lang and Tony Wright deserved better than to end with the ball bouncing wastefully into touch.

Ironically the power play ended with the visitors bouncing back into the lead. After a penalty had been kicked to touch deep in the Waysiders half, the ball was fed to Ruchin Filander from the resulting lineout and the Irvine number 8 crashed over next to the posts to put the visitors up 8-5.

Irvine could have gone further in front immediately afterwards when Kevin Lang's clearance from the kick-off found winger Stuart Nunan in space on the left, but he was ruled to have put a foot in touch as he gathered the ball. Shortly after this, the Irvine captain made good headway down the right but a knock-on on the next phase brought another promising move to an abrupt end.

The match gradually petered out after this into a succession of "guddles" and "kicking malfunctions" as the weather closed in, but the visitors were to enjoy one more chance to add to the scoring on 79 minutes when Kris Hobson lined up a penalty kick, but as with most over the course of the afternoon, his kick was off target, leaving the final score 8-5 to the visitors.


With the 1st XV pitch deemed unsuitable for a 1st XV game, Marress were given a rare chance to showcase their abilities on the surface against their Waysiders counterparts - and they made the most of it, running out 26-10 winners. Danyl Davies (yes, that Danyl Davies) scored a hat trick and John Murdoch also bagged a single. Two of Davies' tries were converted by Chris Saunderson, and Murdoch's was converted by Jordan Duncan. They should now be in confident mood as they head to Ardrossan for their last competitive match of the regular season. Irvine's next match is their last of the season at home, with Newton Stewart the visitors.


WAYSIDERS/DRUMPELLIER – M Gibson; C McGuigan, D Milne,
J McDougal, A Bozlam; T McDougal, A Kirk; M Gollogly, N McGuire,
S Frame, G Ferguson, S Wilson, G Milne, C Collins, S Armitage.
Subs: S Allan, G Devlin, S McDonald.

IRVINE – C Hobson; M Sneddon, C Lang, K Lang (capt), J Carson;
K Hobson, E Morrison; D Kirkwood, N Ireland, S Docherty, G Kerr,
R O’Neill, R Festorazzi, A Lang, R Filander. Subs: T Wright,
B Hillis, S Nunan.

REFEREE – David Mathias