Mar
30
Boroughmuir Mini Rugby Tournament:
P5 Winners!
Home tournaments are always that wee bit special. Today was no different. With eight teams in the P5s draw the boys had a busy day. The quality of the play has stepped up throughout the season and there were no easy games for any of the sides. Narrow wins over Dunfermline and Preston Lodge got the boys going heating up, and they needed it today as the cold was never far away.
The tightness of the competition was reflected in the last match as 'Muir came up against GHA, both having won all their games. A tight game ensued where we were fortunate to get the first score, before GHA levelled the game. In the end the first try rule was all that separated the teams at the end, 'Muir edging the Cup.
Well done to our P5 team.
P7's just miss out
It was good to see all our teams 'pitch up' on a misty Sunday at Meggetland to participate in the Boroughmuir Mini Tournament. At the top end of the scale the P7 tournament had the shine taken off it with two late team cancellations. This meant that there was only five teams to compete for the P7 trophy, which drew together, most of the best teams in Edinburgh - so this was never going to be easy in any way!
Our first game was against RHC Cougars, which saw us get into our stride quickly and start playing some rugby. We've been working hard on our defence and attack line, which really
helped us put in a comfortable win x - 0. Our next game was against Stew Mel Lions. The two teams were quite evenly matched, with good play being shown by both sides. Muir started to get the Lions on the back foot which led to Muir's first try. After half time the Lions drew one back with a great move up the left hand side. Muir gathered themselves and pushed the Lions back to their try line. One big push saw Muir take it over for the winner. Muir 2 - Lions 1.
Next up was a strong Watson Warrior team, which had been playing well. Muir got off to a shaky start, where the self belief waivered, allowing the big Watson forwards to go over for two tries.
After half time a well worked Muir try up the right side, restored belief and Muir were back again. Grit and determination saw the Warriors get pushed back and back with a great break from Muir to level the scores. Muir then had to do some staunch defending, but Watson's managed to put in another good try. Muir came back at them, but time ran out and the cheers of relief from the Watson's players was admission enough that they knew they'd been in a tough game.
Our last game saw us against our other Edinburgh counterparts, Currie. The game started off at great pace, with both teams bringing the ball up well. However, the loss to Watson's had provided the 'size 10' needed and Muir started to 'muscle' Currie off the ball and come up with some good plays that led to some early tries. Currie tried to get back into the game with a nice try down the left hand side, but Muir locked them into their half and put in the big tackles. Muir managed to put in a further 3 tries to come out 6 - 1 winners.
With RHC pulling out of the tournament due to injury, Watsons we unable to play their last game. So Watson claimed the points for their unplayed match against RHC, which meant that, Boroughmuir were runners up - not a bad result under the circumstances.
On Sunday, I saw some of the best rugby we've ever played, so a big well done to all the players for showing skill, gritty and determination - well done, its bodes well for the future!
A big thank you to everyone that gave up their time and helped with the tournament - without you this tournament would not happen! Another big thank you to Bridget and her band of dedicated co-ordinators who made sure the whole tournament went like clockwork. A big, big thank you to all the players and parents for coming down and supporting - brilliant.
Thanks to Claire and her Clubhouse team for their support and the last but by no means least - a massive thank you to Chris Pacey, Development Officer, for all his efforts during the season! You will be missed!
P6 teams come close
Under the grey skies over Meggetland, Muir divided equally into the greens and blues with as many mums on the side lines as we could muster
(if they weren’t already serving teas and coffees and burgers etc etc!)
Greens
Warm ups done we took to the field against GHA. What a start, great tackles, passing of the ball and general team play got us off to a flyer.
Muir Green 3 – GHA 1. Next was possibly the most competitive game of the day – Muir Blue! Greens scored right from the tap but Blues came straight back to even things up. The game continued in much the same vein both sides displaying great team work. Greens possibly took the ball a little wider creating space which just gave them the edge. Muir Green 5 – Muir Blue 2
Ten minutes to re group before taking on Stewarts Melville. Not sure if it was a some dodgy coach tactics or the pre match team talk but Greens went off the boil affording Stew Mel the space to break the line. Towards the end of the game Greens rallied however the damage was done! Muir Green 1 Stewarts Melville 3
Our old rivals Currie were always going to be a tough challenge. The Currie back line closed the gap at every opportunity forcing rucks and turnover. Whilst Greens defended bravely holding the ball up to prevent a number of tries, this one was a deserved win for Currie Muir Green 0 – Currie 4
A top up of Jelly babies and we were onwards and upwards to face Dunfermline. Greens started strongly and managed to keep the momentum. They tackled well against a big side and used speed to find the gaps to produce a good win Muir Green 3 – Dunfermline 1
Watsons up next. Talk of players being cogs in the team machine to get the ball out to the wing seemed to work. Muir opened the scoring with a break from their own try line to produce one of the scores of the day. Watsons came straight back and ran in the equaliser. There was nothing between the two sides however Muir scored a great running try to edge the game Muir Green 2 – Watsons 1
The final game. To their credit Greens were still going strong ready to take on a combined RHC / Preston Lodge squad. Muir left the best to last demonstrating some great passing rugby
Muir Green 3 – RHC/PL 0
Blues got off to a cracking start with great rugby against Preston Lodge, first up tackling was excellent and the offloading game from Friday training was evident throughout. Blues 4 PL 0
Next up were the Greens who were quicker out of the blocks and although the Blues battled back strongly, couldn't quite tie the Greens down.
A defeat by eventual winners Currie was followed by a long break which seemed to take some of the momentum away from the Blues and games against GHA and Stew Mel ended in defeat.
To their credit, the Blues raised their game again and were unlucky to only come away with a draw against a robust Dunfermline side - a last ditch tackle from the visitors in Fergie time denying the Blues what would have been a well earned victory. 1 – 1 Last up were Watsons who took an early lead. Blues came back strongly to edge the game 2 - 1 and send the players home happy.
the P6 squad the day went without a hitch with a huge amount of rugby played but the players were still wanting more even at the end
Thanks to all the organisers, volunteer parents, 1st Team players and supporters who all worked together to provide a really great day out!
Looking forward to next year already…..
P3 Reports
A somewhat cold day for our tournament coupled with series of challenging opening matches, made us feel that this might be a long day! That and confusion the coaches created by calling the team in blue strips the “Greens” and those in the Green (and blue) strips the “Blues"
We were short of numbers, with only 11 boys available for 2 six and side teams at 11.00am and had a couple of very difficult opening matches against GHA and West of Scotland to get the tournament started. Fortunately we were able to borrow a player from GHA to make up our Blue team to 6. We had 3 more players arrive soon and were able to make up the teams to 7 a side each.
Green Team
Defeats by GHA and West left the boys feeling a bit deflated. Despite some good play including handling, ball retention and rucking we were out powered in both with both GHA and West pinching the ball from us at the breakdown then breaking quickly, getting through our defence with relative ease. I’m not sure I have the scores exactly but it was a loss c. 1 - 4 to GHA and 2 - 5 to West.
We then had the BRFC “bragging rights” match against the Blues which was a close fought game with the Greens coming out marginally ahead.
Currie though was however a challenge and although we put up a spirited performance, there size and power (of one boy in particular) just proved to be too strong. Currie ran in 5 - 2 winners.
Then things turned!! We always knew we could score tries having scored in every game to so far. We had strength in the middle and some sprinters on the outside and had in earlier matches been a little bunched together in centre of the field. Organising the line up with Euan and Patrick on the wings, Rory in centre, Ben, Fred inside centres and Oscar and Cameron as second receivers gave us more shape and we became not only formidable going forward but our tackling improved immeasurably. Of course the longer break in matches and heating some of them up in the clubhouse (and cake!) helped too.
Our first win was against Dunfermline 5 - 2 (ish). Special mention for Fred who picked the ball up out the back of a very good ruck to run over and score in the corner. I think his first try in open play… great stuff.
Then wins against RHC, Watsons and finally Preston Lodge left the lads (coaches and parents) all delighted with the tremendous efforts of the kids and their never say die attitude!
Blues
Fortunes over at the Blue team, in keeping with their green strips, were rather mixed to begin with. Really closely fought opening games against Preston Lodge and Boroughmuir Green demonstrated attacking intent but also some defensive frailty. The result of which were two close losses, the loss to Preston Lodge coming with the final play of the game.
The boys continued to work hard against a huge Currie side but injuries to players made continuity difficult and again defensive lapses meant that it was always going to be an uphill struggle against a well organised and disciplined team. So it proved with Currie coming away with a solid win.
By this stage of the tournament with the boys having no substitutes to share the workload and with Dexter (who gets a special mention for playing through 3 full games whilst suffering from tonsillitis) having to sit out the remaining games due to illness, they had all played almost double the number of minutes of the teams they were up against. Hardly surprisingly they ran out of steam, with a couple of heavy defeats at the hands of a really good GHA side and a RHC side who had enough players to substitute their entire team halfway through the game. This really knocked the wind out of their sails however a one match break and the arrival of some reinforcements from the Greens gave the Blues a chance to regather themselves to immediate effect, the next match against Dunfermline yielding a draw (although some thought we might have won that one) and then finally a deserved morale boosting win over Watsons in the last game of the day.
As we said to them at the time, you learn nothing from trouncing your opponents and everything from having the strength of character to keep chasing a lost cause, which is how it must have felt for some of them at times on Sunday. It was a bit deflating for some given the fantastic performance, with 6 wins from 7 to be runners up over at Marr the previous weekend, but hopefully they can tap into that feeling of disappointment and use it positively when we all meet again for training.
