11-try Alloa make hay as Cumnock wilt in the sun

Alloa celebrate winning the BT Bowl Final. Picture: SNS

Cumnock - 19

Alloa - 71

Cumnock were simply overrun, conceding more than 50 points by half-time, and then kicked when they were down as the try total went into double figures.

Captain Gary Taylor said: “First time we’ve played here. What an experience. Loved every minute of it. We came with a game plan and stuck to it. Every man stood up when he was needed. I couldn’t be more proud of every last one of them.”

Alloa started aggressively and never looked back. An early rolling maul was stopped just short of the try line and the Cumnock defence was tested by several close-quarter charges.

A five-metre lineout was the source of another maul stopped on the line before the ball went wide and centre Kris Aitken crashed over.

Cumnock had a brief spell of pressure before Alloa winger Daniel Murrell broke out from his own half and outpaced his opponents to go under the posts. Lee Cairney kicked the conversion and the pattern was set.

Alloa, from BT Caledonia League Division 2, had all the momentum and Cumnock, champions of BT West Division 3 were just about clinging on. Aitken was suddenly through and clear again but called back for a forward pass. Then it switched and Cumnock fly half Jack Reilly ran into the 22 only for full-back Martin Thomson to fumble the pass. It was a critical error because Alloa went straight to the other end of the pitch and No 8 Matthew Pope took a perfectly timed pass to canter in for the third try. Cairney added the extras.

Within minutes, inside centre Rab Truesdale was over for a fourth try and Cairney kicked the conversion. The fifth try was claimed by stand off Steven Skelton before-the game was half an hour old. Cairney missed the conversion, but was next on the scoreboard with Alloa’s sixth try. Alloa full-back Alan Keir joined the try-scoring procession before Cumnock almost contrived to carve a hole in the Alloa line only to lose possession and that was enough for Alloa to pounce and end up with Aitken’s second and his team’s eighth try to take them over the 50-point threshold at half-time.

Full-back Martin Thomson regained some pride for Cumnock with a quick try minutes after the restart. Reilly converted but the game was long over as a contest. Alloa underlined their dominance with another two tries by Pope for his hat-trick and the man of the match award. There was to be a late try for Alloa scrum-half Martin McKenzie to make the total 11 but Cumnock had the final say with two late tries by half-back pair Scot McCall and Jack Reilly.

Scorers: Cumnock – Tries: Thomson., McCall, Reilly. Cons: Reilly 2. Alloa – Tries: Aitken 2, Murrell, Pope 3, Truesdale, Skelton Cairney, Keir, McKenzie. Cons: Cairney 8.

Cumnock: M Thomson, S Lowrie, R Montgomery, J McMillan, A Gilbert, J Reilly, S McCall, D Hunter, P Miller, K Brady, S Fulton, C Reid, J Thomson, G Laurie, W Deans. Replacements: J Crawford G McMillan, I McGarey, A McCrorie, S McConnell, J Robb, R Donald.

Alloa: A Keir, L Cairney, K Aitken, R Truesdale, D Murrell, S Skelton, M McKenzie, R Murray, D Foster, M Duncan, M Doig, S Jack, A McTaggart, G Taylor, M Pope. Replacements: J Dawson, J Hesketh, D Jess, R Maitland, F Smith, R Wallace, C Jess.

Referee: S Turnbull.