EK warm up for cup with win at Hillfoots
East Kilbride Rugby Club’s fledgling women’s team geared up for their first-ever National Plate match with a 46-10 win away to Hillfoots on Sunday.
Hillfoots are a new team from the Caledonia League and their clash with EK was their first game ever at home as a full 15 team, so it was perhaps no surprise the visitors proved too much for the Tillicoultry team in this friendly encounter.
East Kilbride started off very quickly and scored two tries in the first 10 minutes, thanks to Olivia Meiklejohn bursting up the wings.
EK’s tackling was immense as they had a very big forward pack, but they didn’t let Hillfoots get into any sort of a rhythm and their passing along the line soon resulted in a first-ever try for Leah Hyslop.
With EK’s scrums and lineouts working out a dream, the team developed a lot of balls for the backs to put it through their hands and number 10 Melanie Boyd broke their line twice to score two tries.
In the second half, the visitors rung the changes to let some new girls come on and experience playing rugby.
Hillfoots scored two tries, which could have been a lot more but for some strong defence from EK.
They weathered the storm on a few occasions before OMeiklejohn went on another couple of long runs to score another few tries, with Keira McCrone having a total of three conversions to round off the day.
Proud coach Elaine Martin, who will lead the team against Kirkcaldy at Torrance House in the National Plate clash, said: “This was a great win that sets us up nicely for Sunday’s home game in the Plate.
“Our player of the match was Samantha Murray whose confidence over the past few games is growing and growing.
“Her tackling has improved and she is now running with the ball in hand breaking through the defensive line.”
Kick-off at Torrance House on Sunday is 2pm.