After our awesome weekend away at Skye it was time to get back into rugby.
This weekend we found out about how our
play-offs for Caledonia 1 would be structured. It was to be a 3-way
playoff between us, Glenrothes and Ellon (who came 3rd from
bottom in the league above us this season). The Scottish Rugby
Union apparently change the league structures each year. This year they
decided that two teams from the National League would drop down into
Caledonia 1, having a flow on effect down the leagues which is why we
had to play the 3rd from bottom Ellon.
Our first match was to be at home against Ellon on the 20th
of April, which I had heard was quite a local derby. Some of the older
members of the club were saying that it would be great to beat them.
After the sevens it was
back to some hard work at training. We had a good turnout on Tuesday
and because we knew Ellon had a solid forward pack we focused on
tackling and taking the ball into contact. The boys were buzzing after
training and there was a good feeling going around
the club. Thursdays training was even better, and we had about 30 boys
down – by far the most for a long time apparently. Because of the good
turnout we were able to have an opposed session with both the backs
& the forwards. The clubhouse was full for the
team announcement after training and it was pretty exciting stuff
before the big game on Saturday.
After a good warm-up on Saturday the boys were
ready to go. We had said that we needed an 80min performance and had to
play hard for each other. We had the wind in the first half and after we
let in a soft try at the start of the game,
we dominated the rest of the half with some classic fast-paced Garioch
attack. From every kick-off we were threatening, taking the ball in
safely, getting a couple of good forward runs in and then spreading it
to the backs where Raeper (first 5), Chris (second
5) and Martin McRobbie (centre) were carving it up. We scored 3 great
tries in the first half to be leading 27-7 at the break. The second half
was a different story with Ellon (with the wind) pinning us down in our
own half and using their forwards to dominate
more than the first half. They clawed their way back and it was an
intense final 10mins with them sitting at 25-27 behind us. We put out
some great defence and with a couple of calls going our way managed to
win the derby match! What a day for the club, as
not only did we beat Ellon, but we were also awarded our cup for
winning the Caledonia 2 North League. In the after match speeches it was
a pleasant surprise to be awarded man-of-the-match by the Ellon teams
captain. Spirits were high and we had a great night
out with players and supporters alike.
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| A great end to a great day - beating Ellon & getting presented with our trophy! |
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| Peter (forwards coach) & myself - Proud coaches! |
The following week was away to Glenrothes, a 2.5
hour bus journey to a place just north of Edinburgh. The lead-up was
good with another good week of training, and we were keen to win to get
guaranteed promotion for next season. We were
missing a couple of key players from the week before but still managed
to put out a fairly competitive team on the day. We didn’t start very
well and let in two pretty soft tries in the first 10 minutes of the
game. We got back on track and started playing
our fast-paced game, managing to take the lead by halftime 14-10. We
extended this out to 21-10 just after the break after a great
charge-down try to the Aussie, but things didn’t go our way after this.
Simple mistakes let us down a bit and their forwards
really started to dominate us towards the end of the game. They got two
tries in quick succession (giving them a 22-21 lead) before we scored
again to re-take the lead 27-22. They got yet another try to take the
lead with about 10 minutes to go. It was a credit
to our team that we battled right to the end but unfortunately couldn’t
get the win. If we had played the way we had the week before it would
have been an easy win, but that is just rugby I guess.
Club dinner/prizegiving was the last event on the Garioch calendar for the 2012/2013 season. It was a formal occasion so I decided to wear a kilt to get into the Scottish spirit. It was a great evening with a meal, speakers and presentation of awards. I had a bit of a speech to thank the club for everything they had done for me this year, and presented the club president (Colin McRobbie) with a pounamu necklace to thank him personally.
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| Cant get this up the right way but you get the picture.. |
What a season it was in my first proper coaching
role.. Couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of lads to work with.
Hopefully Peter and I have taught them a thing or two and I have
definitely learned a lot myself! I would say one of the
best things I have brought to the team has been the BROTHERS call,
which was done before we went out to the field. The idea is that we play
like brothers, support each other like brothers, and enjoy our rugby
together out on the field. I find it gets you fired
up before you play and think the boys have really taken in the call as
their own. I have no doubt that the call will stay with the team in
years to come.
