U14s Inter County Rugby - Shetland Tour 2012

Orkney RFC Under 14’s travelled with a healthy squad of 18 to play their Shetland counterparts on Saturday 23rd as part of the Mid – Summer 7’s tournament. A great day of rugby was coordinated with minis, midis and seniors all playing in their respective tournaments. The squad flew up on Friday night and back on Sunday evening and stayed at the Isleburgh Youth Hostel which proved to be a great trip and experience for the boys involved.

Great Spirit

The Orkney boys looked a bit rusty in their warm-up having not trained regularly since the beginning of May. However, Griogar Morrison was soon in his stride though, with a crunching tackle on one of the Shetland backs and this seemed to waken up the rest of the team. Sam Croy, playing at stand-off ran in two quick tries, one of which he converted himself. The highlight of the tour from the coaches’ viewpoint happened next when Ryan Arcus touched down after a loose period of play near the Shetland line.

“I just picked the ball up and dived over the line” he said. 

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A good team performance by the whole squad, which could have resulted in an even higher score if long solo runs by Craig Stevenson and Tom Gordon hadn’t been stopped by good last ditch defending by Shetland.  

Tour Manager Bruce Ruthven stated;

“The boys have performed well today despite having not played much rugby over the past couple of months; they enjoyed the game and gave the Shetlanders real problems in most areas of the game. Credit to the Shetlanders who scored three nice tries and never gave up, these boys will get stronger with more training and competitive rugby next season under the direction of Club Development Officer Daniel Meadows. Well done to our boys who have had a great taste of a formal tour environment and we look forward to seeing them Mid-August for the start of pre-season training. Lastly thanks to Graham Scott, John Rendall & Graham Lincoln for supporting the boys on the trip.”