Away at Gordonstoun

A very good performance with the teams a lot closer than the score line suggests. Thanks for everyone for turning up on time allowing the bus (along with U13’s) to leave Groats road sharp at 08:00. A quick toilet stop at Keith resulted in nearly cleaning out Tesco’s – did no one have breakfast? One player came back to the bus with a 24 can box of Coke! We arrived at the beautiful grounds of Gordonstoun with high hopes of competing more than Scotland did. First class changing facilities and a walk past the school golf course to a soft emerald green pitch basked in the September sunshine. We came with 13 player so no selection deliberations for the 13-a-side format against the opposition with 4 replacements.
First half, playing against the breeze, was very even. We saw a lot more of the ball than previous games and controlled the ruck pretty well. Some of the line breaks weren’t supported enough so we lost possession instead of gaining momentum of few times. They scored on 12, 18 and again at the half time whistle. 11-0. Second half we were asleep at our own kick-off. They caught the ball, offloaded once and someone ran all the way in to score. However this seemed to energise everyone. Soon after a penalty from a high tackle; Ross kicked superbly from our 10 m to their 5 m. From the resulting line out (in a preplanned move!), Lewis Gibbons scored in the corner; converted by Angus. And on it continued. Ross, Ryan and Malaki were repeatedly crossing the game line and some enterprising play with good quick ball resulted in Malaki scoring; again Angus converting well. A time went on, tiredness started creeping in and giving them more space combined with not tackling resulted in 2 tries in quick succession. The last 10 mins was end to end stuff; we could have scored a couple of time; Ross made a try saving tackle as well. But was very impressed at how, despite having no subs, we kept running to the end. Final count was 6 tries to 2 – and the first tries our team have actually scored this season so progress in deed.
Kudos for those who had bashes but soldiered on: Archie – shoulder; Dylan – head and Lewis – private parts. Backs in particular played well both in attack and defence. Forwards need to work on mobility and tackling; apart from Dylan and Archie the others did offer their share of tackling, quick support to runners or forward running. All stuff which can be worked on.
What went well:
- Rucking much more controlled
- Scrums and line outs. Lewis getting the ball out quicker and more accurately
- Effort to the final whistle when there were some tired legs out there
Things to work on:
- tackling by everyone – concentrating on going low, with the shoulder
- support the runner – either for the offload or straight into protecting the breakdown
- running straight, strong with intent
Man of the match: Ross Thompson – best player on the pitch
Tries: Lewis Gibbons & Malaki
Captain: Dylan
Injuries: none

Great lunch for all at the school which allowed us to ignore all pleas for McDonalds in Elgin. Thanks to the Shearers for shirt washing.

Next game is home to Moray/Huntly next Sunday 29th September. Please mark up your availability in Pitchero as soon as possible.