Friendly Game at Countesswells

GCC were down on numbers today due to the fixture being on a Saturday and RGC 1st XV using some of our regular players. However, 9 GCC players turned up on a chilly and breezy morning including Brodie who elected to play 100% for GCC – well done Brodie! RGC had additional players and “lent” us our usual boys and some additional players to make it a meaningful game of Rugby.

After five minutes Dylan scored a great individual try to get things rolling, RGC responded and then after 10 minutes Callum crossed the line. Angus then scored after running half the pitch just before the end of the first period. Brodie then scored around the end of the first period. The second 20minutes were tough for GCC with RGC running in try after try showing good connectivity in attack and using the ball well passing down a good aligned back division, attacking space and looking for gaps. GCC stemmed the flow of one-way traffic after a while but leaked too many tries in the second 20. After switching over a few positions and players, the third period was much better with the boys starting to play for each other rather than singular efforts, but much work must be done in this area. Toward the end Dylan scored 2 more and Brodie also scored another fine try. Dylan who was captain for the day led by example on the pitch and was good in and around the ruck, he also attempted all the conversions and even managed to get a few over the bar. There were some good drives up the middle from Joseph, Calum and Archie on numerous occasions. Unfortunately, Calum Sherwood had to come off after a loose boot caught his stomach and Arron had to be substituted after a knock on the head. Lewis Gibbon and Callum Thomson did well at the half back positions but need to be more vocal to get the back line organised and instructing the forwards. The centre partnership of Arron and Lewis worked reasonably well with the boys occasionally linking together. If we can get the boys running onto the ball after good distribution there would have been a few more tries, Finlay had a quiet game on the wing but held his position well for most of the game in attack and defence.

Although the game plan is to exploit space we seldom manged to pass out from the ruck more than twice before cutting back into heavy traffic and tackles, slowing down the attack and letting the opposition into the game. We have speed and strength on the outside, we just need to pass and support the next guy rather than pass and watch!!

Final Score = 28 - 33

Thanks, RGC coach Ross Horne for ensuring the game was played in the right spirit and everyone got plenty of game time. Thanks also to the referee who may have made a slight error when he awarded a line out rather than a try which Angus was convinced he had touched down but refereed very fairly overall.

Afterwards in the clubhouse the boys, most of which were sporting Club ties and shirts relaxed and had a laugh in the clubhouse with hot food served by the RGC parents.

Coaches
Graeme Buchan, John Aitken

Squad
Sam Lynch, Archie Lyndsay, Calum Sherwood, Joseph Rasmussen, Brodie Duguid, Angus Webb, Lewis Gibbons, Finlay Buchan, Dylan Lennox, Lewis Mclean, Calum Thomson, Aaron Hill + RGC’s

Report by Graeme Buchan