Rugby boss: Occasion got better of us in cup

EK Rugby Club head coach Craig Brown feels his side let the occasion get the better of them as they suffered a double whammy in their National Shield exit to Lenzie on Saturday.

The Torrance House side reached the final of the competition last season and had hoped to go one better, but their journey came to an end at the second round stage after a 38-12 home defeat.

Unfortunately for EK, the game counted double with a fixture backlog meaning the match served as both the cup tie and a league match, seeing East Kilbride drop to seventh in West Region One, and all but ending their promotion hopes in the process.

Gutted Brown said: “It is really frustrating.

“I think we let down East Kilbride a little bit because we can play so much better rugby than that and we can represent the town much better than that.

“I see week in, week out the ability of this team and the guys as individuals. When we play as a 15, a whole unit, we are a really effective rugby team - as we showed against Kilmarnock just the other week when we ran away with.

“All I can put it down to is the occasion and the guys letting it get to them.

“Rustiness and our failure to take chances cost us. When you don’t take your chances, frustration sets in.

“I have mentioned before that we have a young team and I guess the sense of occasion overcame them.

“Lenzie did their job really well and took their chances.

“Our defence was good, to be fair, but when we needed calm heads on the ball, we just didn’t have them.”

EK are now without a competitive game until March 30 at home to Dalziel.