With the Cowal Gathering taking place on Saturday, a few of the Cowal guys were unavailable for a Saturday game, so their Bowl match against Glasgow Uni Medics game was re-arranged to Friday night at Nethercraigs Sports Complex.
With 20 points between them in the league last season, on paper this looked like it would be a comfortable home win; yes, it ended up a home win, but it was anything but comfortable.
Cowal started off with the upper hand keeping the ball tight and going through the phases, but the Medics defence was resolute and withstood the challenge coming at them. The Medics didn't waste time in counter-attacking handling errors, whilst they also proved more than a match at scrum time.
Both sides had chances in the first half, with the Medics scoring two tries and a penalty, but Cowals only reward was a couple of penalties to give a halftime score of 15-6.
An early try in the second half for the Medics looked to have secured the victory and the game then looked to be cruising to a quiet finish with a fourth try for the Medics, but a couple of yellow cards (one apiece) managed to inject new life into Cowal who spent the last 15 minutes or so getting back into a style of play more reminiscent with the first five minutes of the game, scoring one try and, with some better handling, could have scored at least one more.
A 27-11 scoreline at the final whistle means the Medics proceed to Round 2, but looking at this game as an indicator of the season ahead, both are going to be tough outfits to get results against. Medics will score loads of tries, whilst Cowal have the potential to score, though need to be a bit more clinical. Goal-kicking percentage wasn't great, so if either team finds a higher percentage kicker, there are a few more points for the scoreboard.
In the other Bowl games, Mull had a 52-11 victory over Hyndland and Shawlands won 53-19 away at Moffat. Birkmyre also progress as Lanark have withdrawn from the tournament. Round 2 (semi-finals) is scheduled for 29th September with Birkmyre drawn against Mull and Uni Medics hosting Shawlands.
For our second game of the weekend, we made the trip to Fintry to see how last seasons West 2 winners would cope against last seasons longtime West 1 challengers, East Kilbride. This had the potential to be a real firecracker, and we weren't disappointed.Possession and territory wise it was pretty even first half, with both teams really going at it. EK scored a couple of tries (the second a real peach with some great handling), whilst Endrick scored one of their own and also kicking a penalty which gave a halftime score of 12-10 in favour of the visitors.
The first 40 was played at a great pace with massive intensity, so it seemed like the second half would be down to whether or not Enrick could keep up this level as surely EK would be the fitter. However, it was Endrick who threw down the gauntlet early in the half and quickly got in the lead and soon showed last years West 1 challengers that they have no intentions of being also-rans in West 1. EK were never really out of it, but they just couldn't convert their possession into points (except for one penalty), whilst Enrick made the most of theirs, with four tries in the second half as well as a penalty.
At the close of play, it was a "comfortable looking" 35-15 win for the home team, though to describe it as comfortable is unfair. This was a tough, bruising encounter that saw three yellow cards (all for high tackles) as well as two reds after a bit of fisty cuffs. Anyone expecting easy league points against Strathendrick is in for a surprise.
Goal-kicking stats for both teams were similar at around 50% each (4 from 9 for Enrick and 2 from 4 for EK).
In the other Round 1 Shield games, we had wins for Clydebank, Dalziel, Lenzie, Kilmarnock, Greenock Wanderers, and Allan Glens, whilst Oban get a bye as Annan were unable to field a team, giving us a Round 2 draw of:
Bowl & Shield Round 1 Results
WeegieRugbyTV Results Show:
See Also:
Round 2 Draw - Bowl & Shield
West Bowl & Shield Update - 18th August 2018
West Bowl & Shield Prelim Round Results
Match photos: Wigtownshire v Dalziel
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