Senior Rugby at Merchiston Festival

On an afternoon of roasting sunshine, where playing cricket might have been the order of the day, the senior boys headed over to Merchiston for some training games with our hosts and St Mary’s Melrose. With a few boys injured and some deciding to walk in the Pentland Hills, we took 23 boys over with us and it was a perfect opportunity to put in to game situations what we have been working on in practice during this first week of the term, and get used to contact situations once again.

First up was a game with St Mary’s and a number of our younger boys who have just moved up from the U11s took to the field against their 1^st team, a great chance for them to experience a more physical game with more players on the pitch and new laws to get used to. It was super to see the team work so hard in defence in this game with lots of good tackles and hard work at the breakdown, especially from players new to this level of physicality and St Marys were unable to cross our line.  We scored in the final play of the game, with Monty going over in the corner after a terrific pass from William! A very encouraging effort from everyone!

We made nine changes for the next game which was against our hosts and old rivals Merchiston. For some, it was their second game in a row, but this was to prove a hugely competitive, physical and skilful game of rugby, and both teams should be congratulated on playing some excellent rugby in the sunshine. We dominated the breakdown and it was hugely encouraging to see the forwards running straight, looking after the ball and rucking with real intensity; Wilfred, Harry, Dexter and Jamie were particularly effective with the ball in hand, and our ball presentation at the breakdown was excellent too. There was not a huge amount of space this afternoon for our three quarters, but we moved the ball well if lacking a little pace and depth, unsurprisingly for this stage of the season, and our defence was excellent. We scored two well worked tries after going through a number of phases and would have scored a few more had the ball not been stripped from the hands which is not allowed at this level; Mechi got two interception tries which narrowly gave them the win albeit on what as very much a training afternoon.

A very promising first run out, and we are looking forward to our first set of competitive fixtures against Merchiston next week. This group of boys have started the term really well and shown huge commitment in training and a willingness to learn and improve. There is a lot of promise and Mr Stephen and I are looking forward to seeing how we develop over the coming weeks.

Well played, boys.