Light and Dark Blues

20 primary 5 children travelled down to Biggar on a beautiful autumn Sunday to turn in two Halloween shockers against Biggar and Ayr.

The Light Blues lost 10 -1 in a match against Ayr in which Jamie Hance scored the consolation. A collective lack of awareness and hunger for ball, combined with a zombie like approach to the tackle situation contributed to the defeat as they stayed well back away from the ball. Ball needs to be secured. Although the team sheet showed 7 players and 3 subs, at times it looked more like the other way around - with half the team spectating on the pitch.

Many of our more experienced players should know better by now than to throw careless passes, spill the ball forward, and allow the other team to push through. It was not a good display against a team we could have run close with a more alertness. These boys need more school to get their brains working !

In their second game, against Biggar they stayed close right up to half time, but looked tired and disorganised in defence as they let handling mistakes and sloppy tackling gift the game 10-5 to Biggar. Half tackles were made but not followed up whilst, in possession, supporting runners dallied way behind the ball and passing opportunities were missed. Brighter sparks in that game were Joe’s determined and robust tackles and Declan’s recovery of ball on the floor, leading to a try. Declan, Jamie Hance, Owen and Lewis were the scorers; Joe, Owen and Calum headed the tackle count. Jamie, Calum, Owen and John carried well.

Ayr went on to beat Biggar in the final game.

In our ¾ place match - a ten-a-side ‘trial’ match against the Dark Blues the Light Blue side edged ahead and then stretched their lead. At least both were gathering round the ball and not round the vacant spaces.

The Light Blues managed a bit more width and more prompt passing. More effective bursts from John, Jamie, Joe, Owen (playing on through injury) and Calum, resulted in an 8-3 lead. Jamie Hance(4), Joe, John and Calum(2) scored for the Light Blues and Ethan, who also made effective breaks and put in a try saving tackle, Angus and Cameron scored for the Dark Blues. On a tight pitch the match as a whole was a honeypot style ruck and maul game, with the teams effective neither in moving the ball away from contact nor in protecting their own ball. There were far too many hugs and far too few tackles.

Overall, we need to see the more experienced players taking more of a lead on the field, cutting out the errors and reading the game. There are some good signs in the passing and feeling for space. On the positive side it was good to see new players getting involved and showing hunger for the ball. Next week - Don’t tickle – TACKLE.

Dark Blues

The Coulter Hills were the idyllic setting for our trip to Biggar as the P5's looked to banish the memories of Currie. However, that was not to be as the Dark Blues took-on Biggar and Ayr in two one-sided affairs.

After Lewis Cumming leveled an early concession, Cameron Hogg then did likewise to negate another Biggar try. Two further tries were conceded before the whippet-like Ethan Morgan went over just prior to half-time to make the score 3-4 and set up what looked like a tasty second half. Alas, it was not to be as slack passing, coupled with the tendency to crowd around the ball left us wide open up both flanks, and Biggar exploited this weakness inexorably as they scored a further 3 tries to comfortably secure a 7-3 win. This could have been more as only a superb Cameron Hogg tackle averted a seventh try just minutes before full time.

The second match versus Ayr picked up from where we left off, as they continually waltzed past our tackle-shy defenders to race to a 5-0 lead. The only promising passage of play up till then was the sight of the gallant Conor Doran brilliantly and determinedly driving on in midfield with half the Ayr defence hanging off his legs. Alas, that did not rub off on the others, and our tendancy to bunch up in the middle of the park did not advance our cause either. Angus Colston did manage to score a try in the far corner, and Rory Campbell powered over in superbly determined fashion to make it 5-2 at the break. Another superb Cameron Hogg drive over the line was not enough to make things better, as yet again our predisposition of "honey potting" around the ball left the rest of the pitch wide open to exploitation, and Ayr did just that, running out 10-3 winners