Youth Rugby Match Report | U13 & 14s v Caithness 23-9-23

On Saturday, 23rd of September, Orkney RFC welcomed Caithness RFC for games at Under 13 and Under 14 levels at the Picky back pitches.

U14s Team. Photo - Fiona Thomson

U13s Team. Photo - Sarah Leslie

Our under 13s had 19 players available for the game, a fantastic turnout, and wore yellow strips on the day.
Our under 14 squad had 16 players available and wore red/white strips.

Under 14 report:

With Caithness arriving with a squad of 12 players, we quickly agreed to loan players allowing 14 a side games.  Three 20 minute matches were played.

Orkney got off to a flying start in match 1 thanks to the raw power of  Wilbur “The Stronsay Express” Bremner.  A first try for Orrin Dick, playing at wing for a change, followed soon after.  Robbie Lyon and Rory Macinnes both played well for Caithness in this match, Robbie in particular driving deep into the Orkney half on several occasions. The halfback pairing of Joel and Kaelan functioned well, with plenty of quick ball to the centre pairing of Einar and Tam who drove the team forward.

The second 20 minute period saw Orkney pull away from Caithness, with Orrin Dick showing blistering pace for the first try of this game.  A brace each for Robbie and Wilbur, Orkney scored 31 points in this game, with fly half Kaelan successful in 3 conversions.

His work may not have been noticed by spectators, but a mention must go to our no.7, Ran Jackson, who is rightly referred to as “a pest” by his own teammates at training.  Ran was industrious in the rucks, worked hard to turn over ball and also stepped in as auxiliary scrum half at times.  Keep it up Ran, all the U14 coaches notice and like what we're seeing. 

Foul play on the line from Orkney resulted in a penalty try for Caithness in this match, more discipline required and will be worked on in training. Einar and Ruari played for Caithness in this match, both making good runs into the Orkney half.

With the score now 43-7 to Orkney, Wilbur and Thomas were loaned to Caithness for the third match.  The Orkney boys know Wilbur's game and worked to stop him, with some cracking tackles on him made by Orrin and Scott.  Robbie was was first to score in this game, with his 3rd try of the day. 

Try as they might, but Orkney could not stop The Stronsay Express, with Wilbur running in two tries for Caithness.  Another brace for the marauding Orrin, now playing centre, saw him finish as top try scorer of the day with 4. A 3rd try for Caithness saw a final score of Orkney 62 – Caithness 24.

As we had time to do it, we quickly arranged a barbarians match –the teams were very well balanced, with the game ending 20-19 to the Greens.  Orkney coaches are somewhat puzzled as to why Einar played his best rugby of he day whilst playing in a Caithness shirt, running in 3 tries and kicking a conversion for his team.

Credit goes to all Orkney boys who played for Caithness on the day, they all put a real shift in which displayed their sportsmanship and commitment to the game.

Thanks to Stewart Spence for refereeing, to Caithness players and coaches for coming across and to ORFC cooks for feeding a hungry horde of boys.

Players' player:  Kaelan Spence
Coaches' player:  Robbie Lyon

U14 team:

1)  Balfour Williamson
2)  George Shearer
3)  Wilbur Bremner
4)  Halcro Tait
5)  Sonny Wise
6)  Dylan Squire
7)  Ran Jackson
8)  Scott Slater (c)
9)  Joel Hamilton
10)  Kalean Spence
11)  Orrin Dick
12)  Einar Thomson
13)  Thomas Corrigall (vc)
14)  Rory Macinnes
15)  Ruari Wood
16)  Robbie Lyon

A.T.

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Under 13 report:

The U13’s also welcomed Caithness over for the first match playing together as a team. Orkney ran in several quick tries and showed both great teamwork and individual play.
Caithness took the first match to settle nerves and started playing with more confidence in the second and third games. Orkney remained strong throughout and ran out eventual winners at 50-0. All the players showed great commitment, sportsmanship and clearly enjoyed the day with Rylee Sutherland, and James Hamilton being named as the coaches’ player and players’ player respectfully.

Orkney try scorers:

Ollie Leslie – 6
James Hamilton – 3 
Reid Drever – 1
Ruairidh Wood – 1

Conversions:

James Hamilton – 7 
Ollie Leslie – 1

U13s team:
1)   Harvey Reid
2)   Reid Drever
3)   Aiden Leslie
4)   Angus Inkster
5)   Matthew Gray
6)   Ruairidh Wood
7)   Jonas Tualasea
8)   Jack Rorie (c)
9)   Rylee Sutherland
10) James Hamilton(vc)
11) Murray Clark
12) Tyler Fitzpatrick
13) Ollie Leslie
14) Ruaridh Henderson
15) Rohan Spence
16) Ruaridh Millar
17) William Maclean
18) Cole Mitchell
19) Kieran Groat

E.W.