Torrid time for tired Cambus
Cambuslang Rugby Club were swept aside by a rampant East Kilbride at Torrance House on Saturday.
An undermanned Cambus scored the first points of the match but were then blitzed by their hosts, losing by a 58 point margin, 61-3.
Disappointed coach Alex Donaghy told the Reformer: “We kept it close in the first half but tired as the game went on.”
He added: “We had 13 call offs or players away, so it was always going to be a tough task.”
Cambuslang rugby coach Alex Donaghy is optimistic that his team can turn the corner - despite a current run of fixtures against the league heavyweights.
Cambus were thumped 61-3 by East Kilbride at the weekend, having had to field a starting XV missing several regulars.
Although well beaten on Saturday, Donaghy took heart from the fact the game was competitive in the first half, before the depleted Cambus squad finally cracked.
He said: “At half time it was only 14-3, and we’d held our own - they’re a really good team with some big strong lads in there, and I thought the referee could have helped us a bit - they had around 20 penalties, and eventually got a yellow card, but that could have happened earlier.
“But we were down a lot of players, and we had another couple of injuries and changes as the game went on.
“The players coming in had been playing rugby (for Cambuslang’s second XV) and as the game went on they started to tire, because it’s a step up.
“It was like we forgot to tackle as it went on and the fitness levels were suffering.”
Cambus had got the scoreboard moving with an early penalty on Saturday, but couldn’t muster anything else as East Kilbride controlled the game.
EK ran in nine tries through Evan Middleton (2), Roddy Beaton, Ally Dalgleish, Paul Rosie, Iain Brown and one, on his debut, for impressive hooker Jaden Hewitt.
Grant Dryburgh crossed twice and converted eight of the nine tries for a personal haul of 26 points. for the hosts.
And life for the Coat’s Park men does not get any easier this weekend, as they face Allan Glen’s, to whom they have already lost twice this season, including a fortnight ago in the West of Scotland Shield .
Donaghy added: “It’s a really competitive league this year. We should have a few lads back from injury and holiday for Saturday, and that will make a difference.
“We improved against Allan Glen’s in the shield game compared to the league game and hopefully we can get something from this one.
“Then after that we are looking ahead a little to the Irvine game, as that will be a relegation scrap.
“It looks like there will be four teams at the bottom, including us and Irvine, and that will be a massive game.”