Orkney U14s travelled down to Invergordon on Saturday 28th with a large squad of S1 and S2. Players were looking forward to the first away trip of the season. The squad had players from Stromness Academy and Kirkwall Grammar School who put there local fixtures on hold for the weekend to come together and take on Ross Sutherland RFC and Plockton RFC in a three way tournament.
Ross Sutherland took on Plockton in the first game with the hosts Ross Sutherland proving too strong in a very close game.
Orkney players started to get warm with some running and shuttle passes that was lead by Scott Smith and Sam Croy before there first match with Plockton. There were nerves and excitement because it was the first Match away of the season and they were keen to put there practise to the test and show the coaches what they have learnt over the past few Saturdays at training.
Orkney started strong and after four minutes Orkney got a penalty on the half way line what was tapped quickly by Arjun Pankhania and quickly passed on to James Nicolson who broke throw the defends with a strong run and then a offloaded the ball to Sam Croy who sprinted through the posts and scored the conversion as well. Five minutes later saw good work from the Orkney forwards but unfortunately the ball was put into touch, Plockton had the line out and Jack Scott stole the ball, Scott Smith received the pass who passed it to Fergus Macivor who sprinted through the Plockton defence for 30 metres to get the ball under the posts for a fine try and sadly missed the conversion but Orkney were still happy with a strong lead.
Plockton restarted the game with some hard running but the Orkney defends stopped them in there tracks with some tackles from Euan Humphries, Scott Smith and Robbie Drever. The Orkney boys regained position of the ball, Sam Croy evaded the Plockton defends for a good team try and then got the conversion.
In the second half Orkney made eight changes to the team introducing a lot of S1 players in to there first county game. Alistair Morgan showed some good evasive running skills witch lead to him being high tackled and Orkney getting a penalty and a quick tap from Mathew Rendall to Scott Smith who ran through Plockton and then a quick offload to James Nicolson who scored under the posts, unfortunately they missed the conversion but Orkney stayed strong as a team. Plockton tapped the ball to one of their players and he sprinted to get Plockton some points and they scored the conversion. A few minutes later Robbie Drever had the ball and he ran with some strong hand offs that lead him to getting his first try in this game and Orkney finely scored the conversion.
Orkney continued to dominate the game with further trys from Sam Croy and James Nicolson. With one conversion the trys scored after hard work by Kyle Archibald, Taylor Perie, Craig Stevenson, Ryan Arcus and John Esselmont. Plockton scored a consolation try after Orkney were caught sleeping witch lead to poor tackling, Plockton scored the conversion and the whistle blew with Orkney winning there first match and plockton loosing there second game of the day the final score was 43-12
Orkney U14 Squad who travelled to Invergordon for a 3-way tournament
Orkney v Ross Sutherland RFC
After the match with Plockton it was time for Orkney to face the home team Ross Sutherland, which had a good match against Plockton. So at the start Ross Sutherland had less players so Orkney had to give a few players to Ross Sutherland and them players were Drew Clark, Griogair Morrison, Dylan Evans and Charlie Cass. At the start Orkney was strong with powerful tackles and good fast running from both teams. Six minutes in to the game James Nicolson had a good run and was tackled but was able to off load the ball to Sam Croy who ran 35 meters and scored in the right corner and then missed the conversion. Ross Sutherland had some good runs and both teams had good momentum.
Then James Nicolson sprinted through Ross Sutherlands defends, and was able to score a try in the middle of the posts, and they scored the conversion.
A few minutes into the second half number 8 from Ross Sutherland was tackled and unfortunately he was knocked unconscious and the match was stopped for 5 or so minutes. They had fewer players so Ryan Arcus from Orkney came on for Ross Sutherland which meant they now had 5 players from Orkney. The match continued and Orkney had good passing and then Sam Croy got the ball and sprinted half the pitch and scored under the posts and Sam scored the conversion as well. Ross Sutherland tapped fast and had good passing and resulting in them getting a try and conversion
Orkney got a scrum a few minutes later but Ross Sutherland won it. Craig Stevenson tackled one of the Ross Sutherland players and they then lost the ball and James Nicolson ran to score a try and scored conversion. Fergus MacIvor ran straight down the middle of the pitch, at a good speed and scored in the middle of the posts with Sam then scoring the conversion. The last try was from Sam Croy; he scored under the post and got the conversion. When the whistle went the final score was 49-12 to Orkney which meant they won both their matches.
All the boys would like to thank Bruce and the other coaches for all their time and taking us away.
By Ryan Arcus
Orkney U14s: - Robbie Drever, Kyle Archibald, Taylor Pirie, Jack Scott, Jordan basford, Euan Humphries, James Nicolson, Ciaran Drever, Arjen Pankhania, Sam Croy, Fergus MacIvor, Craig Stevenson, Robbie Scott, Paul Esslemont, Liam Thompson, Alistair Morgan, Magnus Merriman, Charlie Coss, Archie Macphail, Scott smith, Dylan Evans, Mathew Rendall, Ryan Arcus, Drew Clark, Owen Harcus, Nathan hay, Griogair Morrison, Douglas Murray, Bruce Ritch
KGS U16s before their Brewin Dolphin Plate Quarter-Final against Linlithgow Academy on Tuesday evening.
The match was played under the floodlights at Murrayfield with Linlithgow eventual winners by 51 points to 7.
Click here for photos of the match.
You can read a match report on the Linlithgow site and see their photos here.
Match reportfor Stromness Academy and KGS at Stromness Academy on Saturday 1stOctober
The match was split into three periods, 1st consisted of S1 & S2 Players, 2nd Period S2 & S3 Players and the final period was a mixture of S1, S2 & S3 Players
The weather was on the rugby boys side today because it wasn’t raining or windy they kicked off the match at 11:30KGS scored a quick try by Euan Humphreys. Fergus Macivor stepped up the take the conversion but unfortunately it went by the post. Kirkwall was on the break again with a brilliant run by Tyler Lewington to score another try. Fergus Macivor took the successfulconversion.
Then it was the turn of the Stromness boys to attack, great passes from Craig Stevenson and Robbie Drever set up Kyle Archibald to score there 1sttry. Craig Stevenson followed through with the conversion to make the score 12-7 to KGS.
The KGS boys tapped and went but there was a penalty which gave Craig Stevenson the chance to run, a few missed tackles by KGS allowed Craig Stevenson to score a try., He took the conversion but the ball skimmed the bar. KGS boys started again with great rucking over the ball and passing the ball inside to Craig Drever who was waiting to receive andhe ran through several Stromness players to score a try KGS, Fergus missed the conversion.
Stromness got going again but there lack of rucking over, let KGS steal the ball with some good runs from Jack Stout that led to a try from Ben Stoutfor KGS. Missed conversion By Fergus Macivor.It was a scrum down, Stromness had the ball but KGS boys stole it from the scrum and led to some good running from Craig Drever and Greg Scott which eventually lead to Greg scoring a try with a missed conversion which made the score 27-12 for the first quarter .
The second quarter got under way with the introduction of several S3 players with the first try going to Stromness with a great run from James Brown and a good conversion from Mark Sinclair. KGS was underway yet again with some good passing from Ciaran Drever, Jack Paterson and Jordan Thomson. Jordan Thomson found the gap between the Stromness line and hit it with pace and nobody could catch him and he put the ball down on the line Cairan Drever missed the conversion.
Matthew Rendall was ready to tap and passed itto Mark Sinclair thento Robbie Drever who went on to score the try for Stromness. Mark got the conversion once again.Kirkwall kicked of the ball with a tap and go with a pass to Connor Crawford who was t tackled by Griogair Morrison it was passed out to the wing for Jack Paterson to run to the line for KGS to score another try with the conversion in by Fergus Macivor.
Robbie Drever was passed to from the tap and after a great run got his second try of the game. Mark missed the conversion. KGS had another good run from Tyler leading toa try but KGS missed the conversion. James Brown was away again to score another try for Storminess conversion in by Mark Sinclair
TheKirkwall players were great at rocking over the ball sadly the same could not be said for the Storminess playersandthey will seriously have to upt there game in this department.Cieran Drever hit the space with pace and scored right under the post Jack Paterson scored the conversion in the final few minutes of the match KGS stole the ballfrom a knock on by Stromness Sam Dowie headed for the line to make the final score KGS 58 -Stromness Academy 43
.It was nice to see the game well supported by a good crowd encouraging all the boy’s. Hopefully we will look forward to seeing you all again at the next match on
Scott Smith
Recent ORFC Midi Games and the Future of Orkney RFC Junior Rugby – “ YOUR Club needs YOU!!”
Over the last couple of weekends, I have been lucky enough to travel South with both the U14s to their Highland Rugby Festival and most recently with the U16s to their Caley Cup Fixture in Ellon. It is quite apparent that the future of Orkney Rugby is in safe hands and has a bright future. Or has it?!!!!
The First Weekend 25th – 27th February, we travelled South with the U14s, and at the Highland Festival our boys won the large majority of their, between two teams they won 6 from 8 games, followed by a comprehensive win against Ross Sutherland U14s on their trip back up the road. Without doubt, watching such an exciting group of youngsters play such expansive, care free rugby was much more enjoyable than watching what can only be described as a lacklustre performance from the Scotland U20s and against their Ireland counterparts at Caley Stadium that same weekend.
As a Mini Rugby coach, it is particularly satisfying to see such a talented group of boys further developing their skills under the guidance of the U14s coaches, who include Club DO Bruce Ruthven, Jen Falconer, Graham Lincoln and John Rendall. The other things that became apparent to me that weekend were: a/ the respect the boys showed their coaches and b/ the enjoyment that the coaches got from seeing the boys listening, taking on board what was being said and going out and performing what they had been told and had been trained to do.
The following weekend 4th – 5th March, we travelled South with a slightly weakened U16s team to play Ellon in a re-scheduled Caley Cup tie. Despite a spirited performance which was typified by “dugged” Orkney resistance in defence, the Ellon team ran in a couple of late tries to win 27 – 15. Before the game the Orkney U16s coach, Adrian Askew, asked not only for a performance but also a performance with integrity, the boys who travelled to Ellon could not have shown their undoubted respect for their coach more by their attitude both off and on the pitch. Their behaviour throughout the trip was exemplary, including coming home on a rather bumpy trip from Aberdeen. Their manner to their fellow team-mates, opposition and particularly the referee, who without doubt missed some rather blatant infringements by both teams, the Orkney First XV could have learnt a lot on Saturday by watching these boys demeanour on the pitch!!! (Pot and Kettle, I ken!!!)
After the game, I had a chance to speak to one of the senior committee of Ellon RFC who praised, equally, both sides discipline and skills on the day. Whilst we were having our conversation the two teams turned up for their after match dinner, one team in T-shirts and jeans, the other smartly dressed in shirts, club ties, pressed trousers, etc and, as on occasion, a look says more than a thousand words, the Ellon committee member was without doubt impressed by the smart appearance of the Orkney U16s!!. (I also don’t think that the other boys would mind if I made special mention of Liam Moar, Craig Russell and Joey Fischler, who travelled South with the squad but due to the way the game panned out either got next to none or no match time whatsoever, and understood without questioning their coach. Without doubt boys, your turn will come.)
Well done boys, throughout both weekends you proved to be great ambassadors for Orkney RFC
So my message to the boys, both U14s and U16s, that I saw play during the last two weekends is, keep training, get a hold of the boys that are not training and give them a hard shake, you will all have important games to play for either the Club or your school in the next few weeks and months. The U14s Tour to Melrose, KGS U16s away fixure to Hawick in the Brewin Dolphin and ORFC U16s next round fixture in the Caley Bowl, which we drop in to now after defeat to Ellon, but to name a few. Also there will be more SRU Pathway sessions coming up in the near future and without doubt ORFC have potential to be making a big impact on the Highlander squads this year!
“SO that’s the Good News, What’s the Bad News?” I hear you all say?!?!!
The continued expansion of the Orkney RFC Junior sections, particularly in light of the Club Development Officer Project and the tireless work done by the Club DO Bruce Ruthven, is causing great strain on the coaching/ volunteer resources within the Club. We need more volunteers at all levels of the Club, performing a whole variety of roles, not just in coaching but it is the biggest priority.
So today, I am announcing the “YOUR Club needs YOU!!” initiative. I often hear folk out with the Club, eg at Home games etc, say “Well I wid have helped oot wae that if I’d been asked!” Well today I’m ASKING!!! There is no doubt that within former players, Club supporters, etc that we should be able to generate some more coaches, coaching time volunteers, group managers etc etc….. I’m not asking for folk to give up every weekend just throw their name into helping Adrian with U16s every second weekend, or helping with the Dounby Rookies on a Saturday Morning once a month, travelling away with a Midi team once a season or something?!!! Having said that if you feel that you’ve had a bit of a sabbatical from rugby, so to speak, and fancy taking up the reins at Age Group Rugby ORFC, and Bruce Ruthven in particular, will ensure that you have full Club resources available to you and there will never be the situation, until you feel comfortable, that you will be left “in at the deep end” so to speak!
To those out there that say, “Well I’m not interested in coaching etc, but I’d like to do something”, I can say whatever you can do and are prepared to do we’ll find some way of utilising you!! There’s always help needed doing up the Club house, fundraising etc etc. The Club have been offered the opportunity to utilise “The Blue Door” in Victoria Street from Monday 12th to Saturday 17th September to raise funds for the Junior sections of the Club, can you do a shift??? These are just ideas but if you want to offer your services in any way please let myself, Rodney, Ian Gibson or Bruce Ruthven know! It is also hoped that pre-season we can hold an Open Information Night at the Clubhouse where interested parties, players, parents, sponsors, potential volunteers can come along and find out what is planned for the season ahead and how we envisage folk can help out (More details on this night will be forthcoming nearer the time).
So summarising, the future of Orkney Rugby Football Club is now in YOUR hands, (I’ve now passed the buck so to speak!!). The current Club Structure is unsustainable. YOUR Orkney Rugby Club Committee needs YOUR help now. The Committee are committed to continuing the work required to further progress the Club going forward; we are currently looking for a Rugby Community Coach SVQ to compliment the work Bruce is doing at the Primary Schools during the week, the potential redevelopment of the existing Clubhouse or possible construction of a new Club house are now progressing well with the help of Andy McGinn, hopefully further information will become available in time for the ORFC AGM on Sunday 24th April; For these and any further projects on the horizon to make any progress we now need YOUR help!! In the words of Club Chairman Rodney Spence “Many hands mak fur light wark, ya ken!”
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