U15 boys 7th September

Wigtownshire 40 V Carrick 31

This afternoon saw Shire U15 boys welcome Carrick for their first home game of the season, on a very wet and windy afternoon.

Shire kicked off the match with a high, teasing kick from George Keith, fumbled by the Carrick forwards, picked up by Lee Reynolds who was quickly closed down by the large Carrick forward pack. A quick offload to George Keith followed, who sprinted over the line for the first try, converted by George.

Carrick took the restart, which was taken well by Alexander Clark. Quick hands along the line, ending up in the hands of Lee Reynolds who powered over for his first try, quickly converted by George.

For the next 10 minutes the much larger pack of Carrick was camped in shires half. Shire soaked up the pressure with some excellent defence, until Carrick worked a quick ball out to the wing for their number 5 to score their first try in the corner, conversion kick was missed.

It only took shire 3 minutes to respond, with another well worked backs move and Lee Reynolds in under the posts for his second try of the match, the kick again was converted by George.

For the next 10 minutes both teams played some excellent rugby with end to end stuff, until the shire forwards produced a turn over ball from nowhere and shipped it out to the backs, going through about six sets of hands before Stuart Mckinnel went over the line for his first try, conversion kick again by George.

The second half saw a very different Carrick team.

They were able to bring on fresh legs, unlike the shire boys, who had to dig deep as they had no replacements on the bench, and dig deep they did, closing Carrick down at every opportunity. The defensive line held right up until the 40th minute when Carrick number 10 burst through the line to score a try, conversion kick was missed.

Shire answered Carricks question as to whether they had anything left, when Stuart Mckinnel burst through the line to score his second try, quickly converted by George again.

With shire tiring and no replacements, Carrick piled on the pressure and scored 3 quick try's in succession with all the kicks being converted, Carrick tasted a bit of victory and with only 3 minutes remaining Carrick tested shire's defense to the limit.

This game however, saw the whole team step up on the tackling, with everyone putting in a fantastic shift throughout the game. However shire had one last play left and the forwards worked hard to secure good ball, making a formidable bunch. Ball went out to the back, finishing in Lee Reynolds hands again for him to power over the line, converted by George to complete a memorable victory for the shire boys.

A fantastic game of rugby played by two very capable teams.

Shire boys now progress into division A with opposition now from Cambuslang, Greenock Wanderers and Dalziel.

The coaches did not want to single out a player today as they felt that everyone upped their game and the overall team performance and team spirit was phenomenal. Massive improvement in tackling and commitment from everyone.

Players player produced quite a few nominees-which reflects how well you all played- this weeks players players is Stuart McKinnel, well done Stuart.

Keep up the excellent work guys and the victories will keep coming

Final score
Wigtownshire 40 Carrick 31