Friends Across the Water tournament a great success!

27/2/2023

Sunday the 26th of February 2023 saw Orkney RFC minis welcome their Caithness RFC counterparts for the “Friends across the water” Mini Rugby tournament. Nearly seventy budding rugby players were hosted by East rugby at the St Margaret's Hope pitch.

Each section of the Orkney rugby club was involved, with players from East, West, Kirkwall and Westray Minis representing Orkney. Caithness RFC attended with two P6/7 teams and one P4/5 team. The future looks bright for Orkney and Caithness rugby clubs, with some real talent on show from all sides involved.

Photos: Kerry Martin, Stacey Tualasea

The P6/7 tournament was won by an Orkney side, the “Orkney Unicorns” who beat another Orkney team “The Neeps” in the final – score was Orkney Unicorns 4 Orkney Neeps 3. The P4/5 tournament was won by The Orkney Greens “The Goonies”.

Everyone who attended made new friends and enjoyed a fantastic day of weather, we could not have asked for better at this time of year. However, The Hup frequently experiences sunnier tropical weather compared to the rest of Orkney by virtue of being slightly closer to the equator. [Edit: Yet somehow in winter, however much snow the rest of Orkney sees, they get “more snow”!]

East rugby would like to thank West, Kirkwall, Westray and our friends at Caithness RFC for help in organising this event. Huge thanks also to the Orkney RFC committee for funding the event and to all of the parents who donated food – particularly for the quality and variety of soups on offer on a sunny yet cold day. Someone even took along 100 hotdogs, with rolls, sauce and mustard! Lastly, thank you to all who refereed on the day.

P6/7 winning team “Orkney Unicorns” - Tom Montgomery, James Hamilton, Murray Clark, Jack Rorie, Jonas Tualasea, Blaine Williamson, Morven Dick, Euan Dick, Erik Thomson, Kian Stockan
Coaches – Don Tualasea and Douglas Montgomery

Players player – Jack Rorie
Coaches player – James Hamilton
Top try scorer – Murray Clark

Overall top try scorer in the tournament – Ruairidh Wood

P4/5 winning team, Orkney Greens “The Goonies” - Graham Riddle, Callum Elder, Ronnie Pepper, Robbie Berston, Josh Tulloch, Thorfinn Kemp, Dylan Watt
Coach – Callum Elder