A cold and blustery February day saw our boys play host to East Kilbride in their first game of the new year thanks to the inclement weather that has played havoc with the fixture list thus far. Over the course of the three twenty minute sessions the boys played some fantastic continuous rugby, especially given the windy conditions, with forwards and backs combining well. Strathaven ran out comfortable winners with stand our performances across the entire team, especially in the backs.

Unlike previous performances, Strathaven took the game to East Kilbride from the off and asserted themselves well in the early exchanges. This caught East Kilbride on the back foot and it was only a few minutes into the game when Cameron Brown superbly caught a high ‘up-and-under’ 10 meters from the EK try line, fed scrum half Sam Connery who passed on to Mitch Young (1) at number 10 to score after a great jinking run. Sam Connery (1) epitomised this possession play when, after losing the ball in the tackle, got back to his feet to rip the ball back and keep the play continuous. This was to characterise much of the game from Strathaven with multi-phase rugby and possession play ensuring Strathaven retained control and dominated play.

Our boys didn’t have it all their own way however and EK began to string together some impressive forwards play and ball retention that meant the Strathaven tackling and defensive work had to be spot on. Kyle Dixon, Sam Park and Mitch Young all put in some tremendous hits that kept the visitors at bay and their try count zero.

In fact, just as EK has got themselves to within touching distances of a score, a superbly worked period of some 6 phases of continuous rugby saw our boys advance downfield to find themselves camped 5 meters from the EK whitewash. Powerful forwards play from a resulting ruck saw Robbie Young (1) pick up and drive over to wind the opposition further. Outstanding kicking in high winds saw Mitch Young convert his second of what would be 5 kicks out of 7 for the day.

More continuous back play released the on-fire Callum Noon (1) who scorched his way over 30 meters only to get caught and brought down 5 meters short. However, the ever-present Sam Connery was on hand to pick up and dart through several defenders to score from 5 meters. The backs were not tackle-shy either in defence when required and Marco Spadaro had a stand-out game putting in several cover-tackles to keep the visitors at Bay. Angus Watt at prop showed real attacking verve and intent with a fine rampaging run gaining almost 20m. The good support playing and desire to keep the ball alive made great rugby but sometimes the offloads were a little late, and at times when the tackles came the ball was lost and knocked forward. East Kilbride's pack did a good job of winning a lot of second phase ball, Lewis McCulloch, swapping sides for a period, put in a great stint for EK with some great rucking, clearing opposing forwards off the ball and right out of the ruck.

Taylor Henderson (1) seemed to dominate much of the second period of play with his usual firebrand running and aggressive tackling that saw him score one, set up another and almost score a second in a superb performance were it not for being penalised for not releasing following a lung-busting run. The attacking strength of Strathaven continued and James Westland (1) scored a good try under the posts. EK showed courage taking a tap and run in their own 22 but Craig Thompson delivered the tackle of the match stopping their 'big man' and driving him back. Soon it was Strathaven's turn for a penalty and Drew Muirhead (1) drove forward breaking through tackles and was brought down close to the line but stretched his full length to touch down like a professional.

In the final period, more continuous rugby from the backs saw Gregor Lamb (1) finish off another superb period of 4-phase rugby to score. By now, the EK boys surely felt that Strathaven were going to score with every attack. Yet again the terrier-like play from Sam Connery saw him wrench the ball in the tackle to flight a superbly timed pop-pass to the on-hand Cameron Brown (1) who had a terrific game to score in the corner. The final nail in the EK coffin came from Callum Noon who rounded off a superb individual performance with a fantastic run and touchdown late in the game following another impressive forwards and backs united attack.
Men-of-The-Match: The Strathaven Backs - A very impressive shift in both defence and attack with some superb continuous rugby.

Overall, a hugely impressive display of continuous rugby in what was very challenging conditions. In particular, it was very pleasing for the coaches to see the elements of off-load, tackling and handling practised in training coming off during the game. A hugely positive start to the year from all. Well done boys!!