With more than likely 2 or even 3 teams being relegated this season from West 1 come season’s end, despite 14 matches to go, the lads knew that they needed to get a win soon to start climbing up the table and get off the bottom spot.

After last weekend’s great match v Wigtownshire, the coaches and supporters had high hopes that things were finally coming together.

And it looked like it, with both teams trying to play expansive rugby, it was Annan who took the lead just on the 21st minute as James Kirby crashed over after sustained Annan pressure.

After that though, Annan seemed to switch off for the next 45 minutes as the home side took full control of the match.

By half-time it was 19-5 to Cambuslang, and by the 65th minute it was a lot worse as the home side ran in 4 further tries to take the score to 45-5. 7 unanswered tries as the Annan defence struggled to contain Cambuslang.

As has been the case a number of times so far this season, Annan rallied a bit in the final quarter, and 3 good tries from James Kirby again, who dances through some flailing Cambuslang defenders, touched down. Then John Glendinning outpaced the home defence before Braden Sycamore scored his first try for the black and amber after a wee kick and chase. Josh Whiteside converted all 3 tries. But it was unfortunately a bit too late in the game for Annan to get any closer.

The final score was 45-26, with Annan getting 1 bonus point for the 4 tries.

All in all, it was a disappointing performance against a team who Annan had a good winning record against.

Over the past 10 seasons in West 1, Annan have flirted with the relegation spots on several occasions but they usually found their form just in time and/or there was always a West 1 team that lost theirs at the crucial time. With 13 matches still to play there is still time to turn in around but the players will need to do some hard graft this week at training if they want to get themselves off the bottom of the table and out of relegation trouble.

The team are now off to another struggling team on Saturday, East Kilbride. A win now is even more crucial. A win that, like last week, would take Annan out of bottom spot.

Starting XV: 1 Ryan Glass (C) 2 Stewart Wyllie 3 Callum Taylor 4 Oban Nicholson 5 Hayden Hodgson 6 Braden Sycamore 7 Stewart Livingston 8 Mason Watret
9 Zak Stevenson 10 Fraser McMillan 11 Lex Stevenson 12 James Kirby 13 Scott Norman 14 Duncan Smith 15 Bradley James

Subs (all used): 16 Sean Armstrong 17 Murray Forbes 18 Grant Wilson 19 Kellum Smith 20 Rohan Cother 21 John Glendinning 22 Josh Whiteside