St. Andrews Primary School Festival of Rugby 20-6-14

On Friday 20th June St. Andrews Primary School were involved in their annual festival of rugby. The whole school was involved and this gave everyone a chance to show their skills from the coaching blocks given throughout the year. The day was coordinated by Bruce Ruthven, Mrs Kirkness and Mrs Moar.

To start the day of, the P1-3’s had their festival which consisted of 12 teams split into 3 different pitches. This meant there were 4 teams per pitch giving everyone plenty of game time. The P1-3 festival was from 9:30am – 10:45am. Players were put into house teams of either, Seals, Otters, Dolphins or Beavers. Each team had a P7 captain who assisted with warm ups, substitutions throughout the games and also getting teams on & off the pitch.

Games ran for 7 minutes in a round robin format, with no stoppages and rolling subs. Despite the age of the players, everyone showed that their skills were to a high level and also their knowledge of the rules. This shows that the coaching they received throughout the year has taken good effect and will certainly benefit the players as they get older. Key things on display within the pitches were the evasive running skills, passing & catching and also the teamwork which is great to see.

Next up was the P4-7’s festival which again consisted of house teams of Seals, Otters, Dolphins or Beavers. This Festival had 8 teams split into 2 pitches, giving everyone involved plenty of game time. Games ran for 7 minutes and each team had a team captain who was responsible for substitutions and making sure their team was ready to play at the allocated time.

Once again the kids displayed a high work ethic, good teamwork, evasive running skills, passing, support play etc which lead to a great morning of activity within the school. Being the more experienced age group the skills on show were to a very high level.

St. Andrews teacher Mrs Dearness commented; “The children had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the Tag Festival. It was a great way to finish the school years Rugby programme with a special thanks to Mark and Bruce for their continuous efforts.”

Orkney DO Bruce Ruthven commented; “Once again it’s been a privilege going out to the school. They have fully embraced the Community Rugby Project and have also been involved in Food Standard Agency project. On the whole it’s been another fantastic year of Rugby Development within the school.” 


Report by Mark Sinclair.