East Kilbride Rugby Club suffer double semi-final setback ahead of North Berwick clash

dailyrecord.co.uk:

East Kilbride Rugby Club’s National Shield semi-final hopes have suffered a setback with key kicker Rory Blackwood suspended for the clash, while head coach Craig Brown is struggling to make the match due to Covid.The Torrance House side geared up for Saturday’s win against West Division One leaders Garnock and while they put up a valiant fight in a 21-6 defeat, playing a portion of the game with 14 men meant they were always going to be up against it.Full-back Blackwood saw red for a ‘reckless’ high tackle and his dismissal means he won’t feature in their last four tie with East Region side North Berwick.On top of that, Brown’s positive Covid test on Sunday means his involvement could also be in doubt.The EK boss sighed: “I hope I don’t miss the semi-final.

It’s not as bad as the first time I had Covid and I’ll be testing all week to try and be there, if I can.“It’s not ideal and we had Rory sent off on Saturday.“It’s a shame because it means Rory will miss the weekend and we’ll need to wait and see what the SRU say in terms of how long he will be suspended.“The problem with that is he is our main kicker and he’s a great kicker as well.“We do have guys in the team who can step in but it would have been really useful not to have him missing.“Rory put a dominant hit on their player which caused him to knock his shoulders back first.“The referee didn’t really have a choice but to send him off.“It’s a reckless tackle, really.”Garnock hammered EK 50-0 earlier in the season so Brown admits there was positive aspects to take from the defeat, although their lineout left a lot to be desired.He added: “It was a good, exciting game for the spectators and it was really close.“But our set-piece let us down, our lineouts were awful