Dream all but over
Coach Seery knows his side are all but out of title race
Cambus coach says their promotion bid is gone
A gutted Jamie Seery believes Cambuslang RFC’s chances of promotion are all but over after falling at the penultimate hurdle.
The Cambus coach prepared his squad for Saturday’s game at home to Stewartry – in what was dubbed a title decider – for a topof-the-table clash in the BT West Division 2. The Coats Park side could not have had a better start as they led 17-13 going into the break. But a disastrous second 40 minutes saw the rallying Dumfries and Galloway players battle back to take the game 23-17 and go top by one point with one game left to play. And due to only one team from the West region coming down from the National Division 1, Cambuslang will remain in their league unless Stewartry fail to beat bottom side Cumbernauld in their final match on February 18.
Seery said: “I’m gutted. We were expecting to win and we were feeling confident.
“We played pretty well in the first half and had a try disallowed which apparently should have stood. Then at half-time we were leading 17-13 and in the second we just didn’t play to our style of play.
“They are more of a backs sort of team and we are more of a forwards-style side. We got sucked into their style of play and ended up giving the ball to our backs who couldn’t get through their line who defended very well.
“They scored most of their tries through their forwards and got them from being close to our try line. We were strong in the scrum and in the line-out but we left it to our backs to score for us.”
Outside centre Indio Harland scored a try, a penalty and two conversions while Greg Morrison put Cambus in the driving seat with another try in the first half. However, their efforts proved to be the home side’s only scores of the day as Stewartry claimed another 10 points after the interval to edge the victory.
They are likely to be crowned champions if they win at Cumbernauld, who have only won once all season, in three weeks’ time.
Cambuslang’s only hope of stealing the championship is if they score as many points as possible at Millbrae on Saturday in the hope their rivals slip up on the final day.
But the Cambus boss, who is in his first season as coach of the Coats Park outfit after taking over from Robbie Stewart, has vowed to stay on even if the team are still in the same league next season.
He said: “I spoke to committee members and I told them I planned to stay on and keep the team together. David Bolton, who has played for the club for a long time is retiring but I think all the boys are likely to stay on.”
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