BT West One

ALLAN GLENS 79

IRVINE 11

THE sun shone brightly as Irvine travelled to the Bearyards in Bishopbriggs, the home of Allan Glens FP on Saturday.

Last year Irvine won three closely contested meetings, one by the closest of margins, and two very late Neil Macmillan tries had provided Irvine with a win in the West Shield semi-final.

On Saturday, however, due to injuries, suspensions and other absences, Irvine travelled with a mixed 1st/2nd XV team, and the lack of playing together showed right from the kick-off.

Allan Glen’s had that kick- off but no-one from Irvine gathered it and AG's ran in an easy try. Within minutes, Per Jacobsen had cut the lead to two with a fine penalty but poor tackling and a rampant Glen’s team added two more unconverted tries before Jacobsen managed another three points.

The Glen’s fullback began to find his kicking boots and managed to convert one of the next two tries to leave the score at the interval 27-6 for the hosts.

In the second half, the roof fell in on Irvine with the home team running in seven more tries, all being converted, not helped by Jamie Doolan seeing a surprise yellow card, which was probably the result of multiple offences. Just before the end, however, showing incredible resilience, Irvine topped off five minutes in the home 22 with a kick pass from Jacobsen being laid off to Doolan who drove over from 10 metres.

That only laid a small gloss on what had been Irvine’s biggest defeat in many years.

This week, hopefully with a number of injured players restored, Irvine continue their travels at Cambuslang, while the 2nds, whose game last week was cancelled, make the long journey south to Dumfries Saints.