Stewartry won the closely contested encounter 23-17, moving them into pole position, but they didn't have things their own way.
Stewartry opened the scoring with a penalty in 5 minutes, but Cambuslang got back on terms with their own penalty in 12 minutes. Cambuslang have caused problems to teams all seasons out wide and this was again the case against Stewartry with two tries in the first half coming from significant moves in the backs. Stewartry though had the upper hand in set plays in the forwards, with their first half try coming from a driving maul from a line out from about 10 metres out.
At half time, Cambuslang were leading 17-13, and despite an early penalty for Stewartry in the 2nd half, Cambuslang must have thought they were in the driving seat when the Stewartry prop was yellow carded for a fourth offence at the scrum - from our point of view, he had the upper hand on his smaller opposition prop, but the ref interpreted this dominance differently from our own. However, despite being down a man, Stewartry probably had the advantage in this phase of the game, again causing problems for Cambuslang in both scrums and line-out, though Cambuslang continued to look dangerous out wide.
The decisive score came in the 56th minute, when Stewartry scored their second try, again from a driving maul from a line-out. This gave Stewartry a 6 point lead with 24 minutes remaining, and they then had to spend a substantial part of the game in their own half, with some frantic moments on their own line when Cambuslang thought they had broken down the visitors.
It was not to be though, and you could see the heartbreak in the home teams faces at the final whistle - but we have to say, it was a great contest, and real positive advert for community rugby. A toe to toe contest played in a good spirit, with both teams giving their all in both attack and defence.
The victory gives Stewartry a one point lead, with one game remaining. Cambuslang visit Millbrae this Saturday, and a bonus point win will be sought to keep the pressure on Stewartry who host Cumbernauld on 18th February.
In the rest of the results, Clydebank improved their lead in third place with a 22-15 win at home over Paisley, whilst Lenzie swapped places with Paisley with a 26-12 victory over Cumnock. At the foot of the table, Waysiders 25-22 victory over Millbrae moved them ahead of Cumnock.
The top 2 are well clear of the rest, but there's only 18 points between 3rd and 8th which means things should be interesting for next season.
Millbrae finish their season on Saturday with their game against Cambuslang, and Paisley welcome Waysiders. Waysiders final game is against Cumbernauld on 11th February, whilst Cumnock host Clydebank on the 11th, travel to Paisley on the 18th and host Cumbernauld on the 4th March. So still plenty of jostling for pride in the 6th, 7th and 8th placed positions.
See also:
West 1
West 2
West 3
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