Villagers upbeat despite heavy defeat

Aug 28 2008 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

Lanark.........41 Uddingston.....21

UDDINGSTON Rugby Club continued their pre-season preparations on Saturday when they travelled to meet Lanark at the Race Course ground.

Despite the margin of their defeat, it was felt that the game provided an extremely useful exercise.

The Villagers struggled to cope with windy and rainy conditions, and inside the opening 25 minutes they had conceded three tries, two of which were converted, giving them a 19-0 scoreline to chase.

However Uddingston got themselves back into the game five minutes later when a wayward pass from midfielder Brian Kelly bounced kindly for Matt Robertson on the wing, who collected and ran round the defence before cutting back inside to score at the posts.

Roy Scally added the conversion, for 19-7.

Six minutes later a lineout infringement saw Lanark penalised, quick tap was taken, and Donald Haldane broke the first tackle before powering his way into the hosts’ 22 and barging over for the try. Scally again added the points, reducing the gap to 19-14.

And with a minute to play before half-time, Uddingston got themselves in front.

A long penalty kick failed to find touch, but the Lanark full-back made a meal of the catch, conceding a scrum on the Lanark 22.

Securing quick ball Uddingston moved it through hands before executing a perfect scissors move to put Jamie McPherson through and he made no mistake, with Scally adding a third conversion to put the visitors 21-19 in front at the interval.

Lanark, unfortunately for Uddingston, stepped up a gear in the second half, scoring four more tries and a conversion for the final 41-21 score.

Uddingston will hope to field a full-strength side for their final warm-up match at Penicuik on Saturday. Kick-off is at 3pm.