Cartha steam ahead

Whitecraigs, after a 47-5 loss at Dumbreck, slipped to fourth position behind Falkirk, who were 26-22 victors at Braidholm on Saturday.

On a sunny afternoon, an injury-weakened Whitecraigs side were no match for Cartha, who continued their unbeaten run in Championship A this season.

An Andi Black penalty within minutes of the kickoff began the onslaught, while Wayne Burrows, Peter Hollier and Tom Hine added scores to give Cartha 20 unanswered points at the half.

After the break, Wayne Burrows touched down for his second and the try was converted by Andi Black, who soon added another penalty.

Jake Douglas helped Cartha to continue to rack up the points before he left the field with an injury.

With nine minutes to go, Ryan Moffat made sure Whitecraigs prevented a whitewash with a score in the corner, however Tom Hine replied with Cartha’s sixth and final try.

Andi Black added insult to injury with a last minute drop goal.

Coach Gary Grant told The Extra: “There are of course still two difficult games to play to bring the first half to a conclusion but with very high numbers at training and real depth across the squad we hope we can avoid any complacency and continue our winning ways”.

GHA, who face Whitecraigs on Saturday at West Lodge in the battle of East Renfrewshire’s only two rugby clubs, will also be hoping to bounce back.

Despite scoring two more tries than Falkirk, thanks to scores from Andrew Gilman, Andrew Henderson, James Malcolm, Scott Lang and Dominic Dunn, the prolific boot of Falkirk centre Alex Penman sealed GHA’s fate.

The game ended up on a somewhat farcical note, when believing that they had won the game Andrew Gillman kicked the ball into touch, only to find out from the referee afterwards that his side had actually lost. It would have been a tough ask for GHA to go the 75 metres to score and secure the win even with the momentum firmly in their favour so in the end they had to settle for two bonus points but were left wondering what might have been.

Saturday will see the first competitive battle between GHA and Whitecraigs, with Craigs currently in sniping distance of their rivals — just three points behind.

Cartha will hope to continue their unbeaten run when they host Ardrossan on Saturday.