Waysiders lose out on league return

Dec 5 2012 by Judith Tonner, Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

Ian Morrison

Waysiders/Drumpellier were unable to make a winning return to action following the autumn internationals in Saturday’s only surviving fixture in their league.

The Coatbridge side lost 44-13 at Carrick in the sole RBS West Division Two fixture to get the go-ahead following the first cold snap of winter, after being forced to play the first 40 minutes with only 14 men.

Head coach Ian Morrison explained: “We’d looked at the weather here; the pitch at Langloan was rock-hard and there’s no way we could have played here last weekend, but Carrick is on the coast and their pitch was OK and was playable.

“Some of the players had been expecting the game to be off, so we had problems getting 15 guys on the park and were a man short for the first half.”

Gordon Milne and Liam McCoy crossed for tries in each half, while Phil McKenzie contributed a penalty before the interval for the visitors.

Morrison added: “Although the score looks bad, they weren’t that much better than us on the park; the guys we had playing put in a really good shift but we lost some really soft tries, including one right on half-time to make it 20-8 at the interval.

“We came out of the blocks well in the first 10 minutes and played the better rugby, matching Carrick and getting in behind them, and our tries were well worked.

“Our players worked really hard but started to tire in the second half, especially as it was our first game for a month, which didn’t help; and the opposition struck then to get couple more scores.”

The game in Ayrshire was Waysiders’ first since November 3 due to the international break, which Morrison called “totally unnecessary”.

It prevented them immediately capitalising on last month’s fine 43-25 win at home to McLaren, and last Saturday’s defeat now sees them eighth in the 12-team table, with the Langloan coach targeting a top-half finish.

The Coatbridge club’s next challenge comes at home this Saturday with the visit of high-flying Lenzie, and Morrison has high hopes for the match.

He told the Advertiser: “Lenzie are third in the league, and as a team we tend to play to the standard of the opposition we’re up against – we beat Stewartry at home when they were top of the league.

“I‘m hoping there will be a reaction from last weekend in the game, and we have a decision to make over where to play it, as we could use the clubhouse or the new pitch at St Ambrose High.”

Saturday’s game kicks off at 2pm.