CUMNOCK 1ST XV v ANNAN 1ST XV.

Match Report from: DUNCAN SMITH

Annan slumped to another heavy defeat on the road to one of the promotion chasers as Cumnock proved too strong.

Following the away loss at Stewartry it was another tough fixture for the fourth-from-bottom Amber and Blacks and things went badly from the start.

“We were 20 points down in no time and were sloppy for a lot of the game with some sloppy tackling letting us down,” said coach Gordon Carmichael.

Kieran Warrick drove over from close range to see Annan turn at half-time 26-5 down, so not totally out of the game.

But the Cumnock procession continued and the home side ran in another five tries on their 4G pitch, which coach Carmichael is not a fan of.

The home side have boosted their ranks by attracting players from other sides in Ayrshire this season but Annan showed some fight and got tries from Aaron Carmichael and Ryan Glass, with Josh Whiteside bagging two conversions.

Full Time Score: Cumnock 55 v Annan 19

Matches against the top teams in West Division 1 continue after the two-week international break when another Ayrshire side Garnock, who toppled leaders Stewartry on Saturday to draw level with them on 29 points, are the visitors at Violetbank.

Starting 1st XV: 1 Ryan Glass (vc), 2 Kieran Warrick 3 Kieron Watret 4 Frazer Hope 5 Neal Coupland 6 Jacob Campbell 7 Ryan Armstrong 8 Callum Bell 9 Aaron Carmichael 10 Josh Whiteside (vc) 11 Ben Conroy 12 Sean Haren 13 Alex Halliday 14 James Kirby 15 Andrew Jancey (c)

1st XV Replacements: 16 Aitken Render 17 Callum Smith 18 Murray Forbes – all used