Allan Steel has revealed East Kilbride Rugby Club have almost TWENTY first team players missing through injury – but that didn’t stop them betting Irvine on Saturday.
The Torrance House side have had a mixed start to the campaign after defeats to Garnock and Stewartry either side of a win over Kilmarnock.
But they grabbed an emphatic second win of the West Region campaign when they returned from Irvine with a 60-10 victory amid torrential conditions.
The fact they did so with an horrendous injury list made the result even more pleasing for Steel, as his side is still trying to get to grips with their return to action after almost two years out.
He said: “It’s great to be back and have everybody together again, playing games.
“But it has been a difficult start with injuries and things.
“We always knew this would be the case with players not playing rugby in so long.
“Two years out and coming back into the contact side of games was always going to be difficult and we are finding that tough.
“I think we’ve got 20 players injured between the first team and second team.
“We are still managing to get two teams out at the weekend, but it’s just unfortunate.
“I’m gutted for some of the guys who, after just one game, are going to miss most of the season.
“There’s Gareth Jones and Aidan Stott in particular who will be ruled out I think.
“There’s 18 players that could play first team rugby that are sitting out at the moment.
“But I think we’ve got a really good side considering how many guys we’ve got missing that could play.
“The guys coming in to fill the jerseys are stepping up.
“We dominated just about every set piece and didn’t give Irvine anything easy all afternoon.
“To score 60 points down there is really good.”
Ian Brown landed three tries, assistant Stevie Turnbull grabbed two, Scott Shankie, Ritchie Murray and Roddy Beaton were also on the score sheet, while there was a debut try for young centre Lucas Aitken.
Shankie kicked five conversions in the rout as well and it leaves Steel feeling good about this weekend’s visit of Lenzie.
He added: “I thought everybody to a man was excellent.
“We went there with the conditions not looking good. It was torrential, so we just adapted our game plan a bit to suit the conditions.
“The boys carried that out really well for 80 minutes and that’s what we’ve been looking for. When we were allowed to get the ball through the hands, especially with the ball being slippy and greasy, I thought the backline was excellent.
“They moved the ball really well and kicked really well, considering how windy it was.
“The encouraging thing is I feel we could have won all our games.
“We’ve been in them and played well, but with new guys coming in it’s just been a bit inconsistent, but on Saturday we put it all together.
“Hopefully that continues.”
EK host Lenzie at Torrance House on Saturday at 3pm.
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