Kilmarnock Rugby Club's thirds wait for champion confirmation

Apr 10 2009 by Clair Fullarton, Kilmarnock Standard

KILMARNOCK 3rd XV hosted Lenzie in what was their most important game of the season.

Kilmarnock knew that, if they won it, they would be a step closer to sewing up the league title.

Kilmarnock started the game brightly, attacking Lenzie from the start, but Lenzie’s defence held strong.

That began to frustrate the home side, and lost the passion they had shown at the start of the game. They started to concede penalty after penalty and lost their discipline.

Given the number of infringements they conceded, they were fortunate still to be on level terms midway through the half

Then out of the blue, on 23 minutes, Kilmarnock’s powerful outside centre Patrick Tevenan ran 40 metres to score the first (and as it turned out, the only) try of the game.

Killie looked a lot brighter after that, without looking particularly threatening, and the interval arrived with Kilmarnock still holding that 5-0 advantage.

The second half was a completely different story with Kilmarnock on the back foot for the majority of the game and under a lot of pressure.

To add to that pressure, Lenzie squeezed a quick drop kick over the posts three minutes after the re-start to make it 5-3 to Kilmarnock.

If there had been tension before, it was doubled after that, but despite Lenzie’s best efforts, Kilmarnock’s defence held strong and refused to buckle under pressure.

Somehow, the home side managed to hold out to the final whistle in what was a high pressure, but low-scoring, game.

Now the Kilmarnock thirds just have to wait for confirmation that they are the league champions. Watch this space!