East Kilbride Rugby Club reach National Shield semi-final - but at a cost to key players

East Kilbride Rugby are celebrating after reaching the semi-finals of the National Shield.

But their victory over Kilmarnock came at a cost with two players ruled out for the rest of the season.

Second row stars Paul Rosie and Ben McLean both picked up nasty injuries during a 17-14 triumph at Torrance House and are now expected to be out of action until the start of the 2023/24 campaign.

It put a bit of a dampener on proceedings for EK head coach Craig Brown, but he was delighted to see the club reach the last four with a first win of the season over their West Division 1 rivals.

He said: “I felt as if something was righted there because the past two games we’ve played against Kilmarnock were games we felt we should have won but we lost, so it was good to grind out a result.

”It came at a hell of a price though losing two players, so it’s a bit bittersweet. Both injuries were just freak accidents - one a calf tear (Paul) and one a dislocation (Ben) - and they’ll probably be out for the remainder of the season now.

“At least we have a bit of depth to the squad now so other players will come in But I just feel so sorry for the guys to see their season end like that. It’s such a shame.”

Next month’s semi-finals will see East Kilbride battle it out with North Berwick for a silverware showdown at Murrayfield.

Brown added: “I’m looking forward to it and hopefully it gives everyone at East Kilbride something to shout about.”

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