Mini Rugby Festival | Invergordon 2-10-22

Sunday 2nd October 2022 had over 50 children, coaches and helpers from The East, West & Kirkwall Minis, back on the road again, this time with a trip south to Invergordon - Ross Sutherland RFC Rugby Festival. The sections were mixed together to represent Orkney RFC as a united front.

All photos: Lorna Thomson

Following a 7am meeting point in St Margarets Hope we arrived at 11:30am, the mob were straight off the bus and on the pitch to their matches, splitting off to the upper and lower pitch areas into 3 P6/7 teams and 2 P4/5 teams, with all the Orkney sides playing well throughout the day.

The P4/5 teams were coached by Kevin Pepper and Tanya Drever with the Orkney Green team scoring an impressive 40 tries across the day. Very well done to both sides for their efforts

Iolo Garrett

A quick interview opportunity arose with Iolo Garrett during the games providing an insight into how things were going, Iolo - "I dont know what these girls are on but they are on fire! Lets do this!" as he sped off back to the pitch ready for action.

On the upper pitches the P6/7s were hard at it with the reshuffle of the teams required as unfortunately the fixtures had only accounted for just 3 older teams, instead of the 4 we had travelled with, the coaches did a fabulous job in the spur of the moment to split the players down to 3 teams and bring out the best of the bairns on pitch competitive play and side line support between substitutions.

Once again the club coaches Douglas Montgomery, Stephen Kemp, Erlend Wood, Darren McGee and Steve Kolthammer, Don & Stacey Tualasea were on hand to provide the direction of the day.

The all P7 team were marshalled with skill and never ending support from Don Tualasea, his Orkney All Greens showed they could dig deep to reach the final against Moray RFC, with sheer grit and determination from all the players they played outstanding, most notably on the day was Ruby Scarth, a reliable powerhouse on the pitch making the plays, scoring tries and tackling with determination, she is a valued member of the team and an example of true sportsmanship. Sadly the team narrowly lost out with a deciding try to Moray in the last few seconds, 3 - 2 score line, bringing the tournament to a close. Very well done to the team for being runners up on the day, the competition was tough yet close!

We thank Ross Sutherland RFC for their invitation and brilliant hospitality on the day, including a requirement for medical treatment for Murray Clark who acquired a shoulder strain during a tricky tackle against him. Thankfully with a GP travelling with us and the medical support on site all were satisfied he was ok. A few games off and Murray was back in the thick of the games giving his all again.

By 3 oclock medals were handed out for players player and coaches players of the teams and we were back on the road. The wait for the boat provided further opportunity to speak to the bairns about their experience of joining an Orkney Minis and Rookies club.

Connor Thomson, Age Group P4/5 - has been playing rugby Since Feb '22.

What did you think of your trip south today? "The early start was a bit tiring but once I got over my nerves in the first game and got a good hold of the ball I felt so happy! Even the travel has been fun, I have met lots of new people its just great!"

Connor Thomson

Another successful day out for ORFC- The coaches felt the bairns played exceptionally well overall and should be very proud of themselves, they represented Orkney with pride.

L.T.