MID SEASON FRIENDLY
26/10/19 – CANAL PARK, INVERNESS
HIGHLAND RAPTORS 22, ORKNEY RFC 39
 
On Saturday 26th October Orkney travelled to Inverness to play Highland Raptors; the second team of Highland rugby club in a friendly fixture.
Orkney were after some much-needed match practice due to a lull in league and Caledonia shield fixtures of some four weeks.

Highland seconds play regular rugby in division 2 of the Caledonia leagues and had won this league the previous three seasons although they are unable to progress to Caledonia 1 due to league rules prohibiting promotion of reserve sides. So, this tie had the potential to be fairly competitive.

Tennent's Caledonia Region League Division 1
Aberdeen - Saturday 12th October 2019
Aberdeen Wanderers 12, Orkney RFC 52

On Saturday 12th September Orkney RFC travelled away on league business to play Aberdeen Wanderers. This was the second time Orkney had played Wandies this season. The earlier game had been in the Caledonia shield where Orkney had run out comfortable winners.

Orkney travelled with a strong playing squad despite several players either injured or unavailable. Fortunately, the ferry journey was calm and smooth as the team had to “rough” it in pods due to school holiday season filling all the cabins.

Playing conditions were excellent; minimal wind, warm and a dry pitch albeit fairly short and narrow.

Jack Rendall Memorial Cup Matches - Kirkwall v East

Saturday 12th October saw the first Jack Rendall Memorial Cup match take place in very wet conditions at the Rugby Club with East visiting Kirkwall. To encourage unity within the sections, the coaching team decided to run a mixed warm-up with the Kirkwall and East players. They were split into their P4/5 and P6/7 age groups and took part in a 30min warm-up. The warm-up session allowed the squads to interact together with some different types of drills from straight running with ball in hand to defensive lines and footwork through the poles and ladders.

Primary 4/5 Match

With the school holidays just started, East travelled with a few less players than normal but Kirkwall were able to donate players to even up sides. Throughout the 10 minute halves, both teams were showing great spirit with a lot of running, tackling and support play. Kirkwall turned out winners on the day - Kirkwall 10 v East 4. Referee Al Watson

Primary 6/7 Match

The coaches for both teams decided to play 10 v 10 with no subs so that everyone was able to keep warm while the rain poured down. The pitch underfoot was heavy but it didn't seem to hamper either side and there was some great rugby being played during the 10 minute halves from both teams. East turned out winners on the day - Kirkwall 4 v East 9.

Referee Stewart Spence

N.M.

Tennent's Women's North League (East)
Kirkwall Grammar School -
Saturday 28th September 2019
Orkney Dragons 34, Aberdeenshire Quines 10

On Saturday 28th September the Orkney Dragons faced Aberdeenshire Quines in the Tennent's North League (east). The teams had only met once before in the Sarah Beaney Cup where Orkney came out on top by just one point.
Both teams have evolved quite considerably since then so neither side was sure quite what to expect.

The match kicked off at 12 on the KGS pitch and it was clear both sides were determined to come out hard and fast. The weather conditions meant the ball was quite greasy and this resulted in some handling errors and plenty of scrums. In the beginning Quines’ big  pack had the edge in scrum but the Dragons soon began to thwart the Big Cats’ efforts with Laura Baillie at prop and Florence Ungaro both hooking the Quines’ balls from them.

The scoring was opened by Dragon Vice Captain Tiphanie Cazaneve followed by Rebecca Scott successfully converted by Nikita Scollie leaving the half time score at 12-0