Youth Rugby Match Report | U18 Boys v Garioch Away 13-9-23

The under 18s were away to Inverurie for the next match in the inspiresport Boy's U18 Caledonia Youth League.

A week after beating Highland in Orkney, the boys were after another victory and knew that it would be no easy feat playing Garioch at home.

We kicked off at 1030 and straight away, you could tell that Orkney were hungry for points.

They played like a well oiled machine, all their training was paying off as they gelled together to give Garioch a hell of a match. Balfour Norquoy drew first blood as he took the ball from an Orkney lineout on the Garioch 5m line and put the ball down for the first try of the day.

Tom Hamilton got the next try when McGee popped it out the back of a ruck for Tom to score under the posts with Ian Moar converting to bring it to 12-0. Orkney kept on the attack and shortly after, with Orkney rumbling towards the Garioch try line, Finlay Daintith brought the score to 17-0, with Zander Baillie getting the conversion.

Garioch broke through the Orkney defence for the first time and came away with 7 points through some nice play but we widened the score quite quickly when the ball came out to Jamie Milne on the wing who barged through to score his first try at U18s before halftime. Orkney went into the halftime oranges with a score of 24-7.

Within 5 minutes of the second half whistle, Orkney were on the attack again with Tom coming away with another try and Zander getting the conversion. Garioch managed to get another 5 points but this was quickly countered when Cameron got his name on the scoreboard to make the score 36-12 to Orkney.

Orkney kept probing looking for more points and eventually, Zander Baillie made a fantastic run from the Orkney 22 up the pitch, handing off 4 players to offload with one hand to Joe Thomson to get another try to cement Orkney's victory. Garioch managed to get 2 more tries near the end of the game but it was not enough. Game finished 41-24 to Orkney.

On behalf of the coaches, we must say that these lads are playing with the attitude, sportsmanship and respect that Orkney is well known for. They played amazingly against Garioch, showing skill, determination and left it all on the pitch. It is a delight to be there to watch this team and the future of Orkney rugby grow with every match.

Our Men of the Match were Ben Sinclair and Balfour Norquoy. Both of them had outstanding games as well as the rest of the team.

Pictured:
Back row from left to right - Jeff Dougall, Balfour Norquoy, Matthew Meason, Ben Sinclair (VC), Mikey McGee (VC), Cameron Boyd, Lewis Moncrieff, Finlay Flett, Zander Baillie, Magnus Craigie, Darren McGee

Front Row L - R - Ashton Sutherland, Finlay Daintith, Tom Hamilton (C), Ian Moar, Jamie Milne, Joe Thomson, Jack Innes

D.M.