Rugby: Irvine among the tries at last

Mar 26 2010 by John Woods, Irvine Herald

IRVINE Rugby Club finally broke their try drought in Saturday’s Premier 3 game with three well taken efforts but still went down to a hefty 69-21 defeat at the home of league leaders Hillhead/Jordanhill.

The Glasgow outfit, who are now only three points away from promotion, gave Irvine a lesson in finishing, scoring a massive 11 tries to Irvine's three.

But several positives can be taken from the Maroons’ performance.

A third minute Mitchell try, converted by G. Twaddle gave early indication of the Hughenden side’s intentions, but Irvine levelled the scores almost immediately when Ruchin Filander intercepted a pass on the half-way line and scampered past a number of despairing tackles to cross the line with Kenny Diffenthal adding the extra points.

However, in the tenth minute a Diffenthal kick was charged down by scrum-half Armstrong who crossed the line for Twaddle to convert again.

Witko scored again for Hill-Jills before Irvine lost young prop Euan Callaghan with a serious knee injury then MacPherson added another couple before Kevin Lang notched Irvine's second try with a trademark charge through the defence to score under the posts and, Diffenthal converted to make the half time 38-14 for the home side.

The second half was a repeat of the first with Twaddle, Leslie and MacPherson scoring for the Glasgow outfit before Lang got his second try with a slashing run through the home defence to leave Diffenthal with an easy conversion.

The game ended with a pushover try by Rose and that, coupled with the three Twaddle’s conversions, left the champions-elect with a handsome victory.

Irvine's three tries, however, show that there is some confidence coming back to the team and, although they have no game this week, they face their final three games at Marress, against Garnock, Cartha and Howe, with renewed hope and a determination to set themselves up for a successful campaign in National One next season.