Winter Rugby In Scotland

Winter is here tomorrow and the weather is definitely starting to get worse. We received our first snowfall last Friday which was quite an experience. Everything including the rooftops, back yard and road was covered. Temperature rarely gets above 5 degrees during the day but we are told it will get quite a bit worse. Clocks also went back an hour on the weekend so are back to being 11 hours behind New Zealand again. Because of this it is now getting dark at 4.30pm.

First snow in Inverurie in October.

I played my first game of rugby in the snow on Saturday at Kelland’s Park (our home ground). I had to wear two layers of thermals to keep warm and it wasn’t too bad after a decent warmup. Being a halfback (and having to pass off the ground a lot) the only part of my body that was cold was my hands. We had another good win which puts us 15 points clear at the top of the table with 9 wins from 9. Our next game is a tough one away against Lochaber who have only lost one game. The 4 hour bus trip down is supposed to be a good one, going through some scenic parts of Scotland.

Chris (Development Officer), Peter (Forwards coach) and myself went down to Edinburgh on Monday night to see Wayne Smith present a coaching seminar. He was good to listen do and left us with a lot of good ideas about coaching that we can hopefully bring to the team. I introduced myself after the session and had a bit of a chat. I think he was quite surprised to see another kiwi.

We have 3 more games before the Christmas break, and the season will start back up around mid-January after that. We are heading to Edinburgh for the All Blacks v Scotland game on 11 November with our flatmates which will be cool. Haylee and I are staying down for a long weekend to do some sightseeing around the capital. We have also booked flights to go to London for a couple of weeks over Christmas/New Years which we are both looking forward too also.

Rugby & Life In Scotland

We have been in Scotland for 2 months now so have settled in nicely. We are living in a town called Inverurie which would be around twice the size of Wellsford. The area around us has a heap of tourist attractions which is a bonus.

Our new house in Inverurie, North East Scotland

The River Don which runs through Inverurie

The people here are very friendly. We were taken out for a very nice dinner her with the club president and his partner on our arrival - highly recommend the local Aberdeen Angus steak! Was a nice surprise for sure. We are staying in a house with another coach from Australia and a Scottish couple who are also involved with the rugby club.

Out for dinner at Fraser Castle with the Garioch club president & his partner on our first week in Scotland.

We have visited a few attractions in the two months we have been here (in between rugby which takes up a fair amount of time). Our first trip took us to the Stornoway Islands on the west coast, was a cool trip through the highlands and the relaxed coastal town of Ullapool. One of the best has been Dunnottar Castle (about 30mins southeast of Inverurie) which lies right on the coast up on a cliff. Bennachie is a mountain nearby with some decent walks and views once you get to the top, they once mined granite from here and there is some interesting history worth reading up about. We have visited the Battle of Harlaw monument (5mins drive from our place) where there was once a brutal skirmish (apparently the river ran red with blood after the battle). Fraser Castle is very nice and only a 10 minute drive from Inverurie.

Passing through the west coast fishing town of Ullapool on our way to Stornoway. 24 hour away trip for rugby on our first week in Scotland.

Crathes Castle - one of the many castles in Aberdeenshire.

Dunnotar Castle ruins - pretty spectacular place.

Have had a taste of some pretty decent whiskey also. The best so far is called Glendronach, a local distillery about 20 mins away. Is quite a sweet, easy drinking whiskey because it is aged in sherry barrels. They say it is available in NZ so go for the 12 of 15 years aged, is a good drop!

Visit to Glenfiddich Distillery on 22/10/12. Learnt all about the whiskey making process and finished off with a taste of 3 whiskeys, the 12, 15 & 18 year old brews.

The Glenfiddich Story

Rugby is going very well. The team has won 8 from 8 and everyone at Garioch (pronounced Gea-ry) is in pretty high spirits being on top of the table. Teams played so far include; Stornoway, Aberdeen Wanderers, Aberdeen Uni, Moray, Banff, Ross Sutherland, RAF Lossiemouth and Aberdeenshire - if you look on a map you will see they are all quite spread out. Have had a few tough games but our fitness seems to be our strength, must be doing something right as a coach. The standard of rugby is poor compared to back home, but I am still enjoying it. The club is happy with my performance as a coach and player, so hopefully we can carry on the good work!