2019 Tour of Edinburgh(ish) with U13, U15 and U16s.
4 teams plus support crammed into a 70-seater bus; headed down to Broomlee activity centre somewhere south of Edinburgh on Friday morning. Split into groups for various outdoor activities in a mixed weather afternoon before an early dinner and back on the bus into Edinburgh to see Scotland’s last warmup game before the World Cup vs Georgia at Murrayfield. We were seated together near pitchside. First half proved that everyone (even professionals) drop balls, miss tackles, kick poorly and get turned over; with a narrow half time score of 10-9. Much better in the second half with 4 tries scored at our end and Scotland running out comfortable winners 36-9 without their full-strength squad. Amusingly our boys were instrumental on initiating a 3-times-round Murrayfield Mexican wave. Back to the billets and with our 9 players deciding to sleep together in an 8-person room there was never going to be enough sleep – which shows the next day.
Up early for the bus trip south to Peebles where we met with a U14 squad of 35+ playing both ourselves and Jedburgh. U13’s didn’t have opposition so 5 joined our ranks (along with one from Peebles) in what turned out to be a tough, competitive but enjoyable 15-a-side game in the autumn sunshine.
Result: 3x20 mins: lost 42-12 (10-0); (18-4); (14-8)
All-in-all, a great contest. Everyone put in a good shift with some impressive rugby at times – possibly too much individuality rather than ‘team first’ but we can work on that.
Considering the players had just been thrown together the first period was pretty good. Strong defensively. First score was unfortunate inexperience not touching down when holding the ball behind our own touch line. The other 2 were run in on the outside since defence was too narrow. 10-0.
Second period was better because we improved penetration in attack. A few line breaks didn’t quite pay off due to late support, but Jake’s score off the wing (Lewis conversion) was nicely worked after excellent passing along the line. A couple of sleepy heads at restarts cost dearly – scrums and penalty kick not making touch with no follow up. 18-4
V impressed with the boys after going down 2 more tries early in the third period – ultimately insufficient tackling and not picking up the no. 8 off the scrum – but the heads stayed up and finished strong to score 2 of the last 3 tries. Initially Christian crossing the white wash after good recycle at a ruck (Lewis converting with a drop kick), and Dylan converting the try from a Peebles player at the final whistle.
Commendation to the five U13’s – Jake, Michael, Christian, Aiden and Finlay who stepped up very well. We took the opportunity to swap positions for a few players – and it didn’t always work - but I’m keen to develop our players this season such that they can feel comfortable in 3 positions by the end.
Back on the bus back to Broomlee for more outdoor activities in the afternoon.

What went well:
1. Intensity and effort all the way to the end
2. Rucking
3. Handing – generally good with some great offloads
Things to work on:
1. Scrums - not kicking the ball towards the opposition even when hooked
2. Structure in defence. There was some ‘honey pot’ syndrome and tacklers going for same player
3. Structure in attack. General too flat and not running on to the ball.

Man of the match: Jake – only started rugby in November. Good positioning as a wing, and ran like the wind
Captain: Dylan Lennox
Scorers: Jake and Christian (both U13s)
Injuries: none

Tomorrow is back to Edinburgh and training session with Edinburgh Vikings.

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