Rugby – EK thump Oban:
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East Kilbride ....... 62 Oban Lorne ........... 5
East Kilbride Rugby Club maintained their recent run of form with an excellent home win against an over-matched Oban, who admittedly travelled some way short of full strength.
The hosts ran in 10 tries to remain unbeaten since early October and keep their slim hopes of promotion alive.
Coach Allan Steel made one or two changes from last week’s narrow victory in Annan. Callum Hastie, back from New Zealand, lined up in the back-row despite still looking like the prop he was when he went south, while Aidan Stott and Bert Blackwood were reunited at half-back.
Outstanding junior prospect Connor Wilson made his debut off the bench and announced his presence with some thumping hits as he immediately settled in.
Whether shorn of frontline talent or not, Steel knew that Oban would look to dictate that the game be played at close quarters, and therefore focused during the week in training on keeping the ball alive through contact.
This desire to play expansive, open rugby seemed counter-intuitive for Torrance House in January, but it worked splendidly.
Each time an EK player took the ball into the tackle he had options either side and, despite the freezing wind, more often than not the resultant off-load went to hand. As a consequence of this continuity the home side constantly stretched Oban’s defence beyond breaking.
The forwards were solid at the setpiece throughout, scrum and line functioning well, while they were clearly a more physical and fitter unit than Oban.
Reinstating Scott Shankie at number eight provided some serious go-forward at scrum-time with his powerful frame and explosive pace making inroads time and again.
The backs moved the ball well and all ran excellent lines, both with the ball and in support of colleagues, while Greenfield and Simpson in midfield caused havoc all afternoon with their strong running.
For the record, tries went to Anderson, Rosie (2), both Beaton brothers, Shankie, Simpson (2), Greenfield and Ferguson, Blackwood kicking the remainder.
Delighted gaffer Steel said: “I can have no complaints about the performance, every player was first class on Saturday.
“The travelling can be a bit of a strain on Oban and we pressed them really hard early on and forced them into mistakes.
“After 30 minutes the game was finished because we were so dominant and so far in front.
“But at half-time I said to the players if we want to compete at the top end of the table we needed to go out there and score a lot more points.
“Apart from Oban’s try, they picked up where they left off in the first half and it was a really convincing performance.”
Asked about his side’s hopes of promotion, Steel added: “We need to hope other teams slip up in the final game, but we’ve still to play all three teams above us, so we’ll just try to keep winning games and see where it takes us.
“I’ve put promotion talk to one side for now because I want to focus on building our performances and the last few weeks have been really good.”
This Saturday will see a real test of East Kilbride’s revival of form, when they travel to table toppers Carrick, kick-off 3pm.
EK: Mclellan, Anderson, E Beaton (c), Dalgleish, Irvine, R Beaton, Hastie, Shankie, Stott, B Blackwood, Ferguson, Greenfield, Simpson, Hagerty, Ellison.
Replacements: Steel, Rosie, Wilson and Murray.