U9
Under brilliant sunshine (a huge change from Saturday!) our first match was against Howe of Fife on a very wide pitch. Good, strong running, lots of passing wide to the wings and the result was a comfortable 11-5 win. It would have been 12-5 but a brilliant interception try off a Howe restart was struck off for being far too cheeky – the referee’s comment was “What do I do now? I’ve never seen that before”
We then moved to even larger pitches for the remainder of our matches and used the space out wide well for all of them. The next match was against a strong running Musselburgh, the team held its shape and the majority of their attacks down the wing were quickly stopped with good tackling, a feature of our play out wide all day. However, worrying signs of slack tackling in the centre made the game a close one with us running out 9-6 winners.
Third up was Portobello and again weak tackling in the centre combined with a habit of giving them huge amounts of space at restarts made this game a hard one. The team stuck to their game though and pulled away at the end to make it 7-4. The final group match was against Stewart Melville and it was a hard fought affair with the lead changing hands six times. Finally we put together a concentrated three minutes and pulled clear to win 8-6 getting us into the final.
The final was against a strong Currie side out for revenge after last week. The boys fought hard throughout the game and never let their heads drop but the Currie team was too strong on the day and ran out to a deserved 8-2 win.
Well done to everyone, lots of excellent play and buckets of determination on a hugely enjoyable day with us going home with a well deserved second place and a medal.
U10
Another sunny day, another tournament; this time Stewart's Melville. With nine changes from the team of the previous week, this gave us the opportunity to blood four players who had yet to break their duck this season. First up were Howe of Fife who we had played and beaten in our first game of the season at Dundee. We thought that knowing their game would at least allow the team to be better prepared in neutralising their two flyers. However, they proved a tough proposition in the first half and a few missed tackles meant that the teams were even at half time. A much better tackling performance in the second half saw this tightly fought contest end in an 8 to 6 win to County.
Next up were Musselburgh who looked a daunting prospect with three very large kids. This at first phased the team and the scores were level at 2:2 after the first quarter. County suddenly realised that some of these larger than life players had to be substituted after one run and that if they were tackled they fell over rather easily. After this is was a bit of a romp and the team ran in the victors 11 to 3. With very tight turn around times between the games the kids had little time to recover and five minutes later were up against Portobello, a bit of an unknown quantity. Having watched the first half of their game against one of the two Stewart's Mellville sides we realised that they would not be a pushover. The kids managed to stay in the game throughout though, and this despite a very impressive display by the opposition of keeping their shape in both offence and defence (something we have to keep working on!). A bit of confusion on the referees part at the end saw County playing the "good sportsmanship" card and confirming the Portobello's coaches score card that they had in fact won 8 to 7 and not the other way round.
Our final pool game was against our old rivals Stewart's Melville in the form of their Black Lions team. A win here would see us at least progress to a third/fourth play off. Stewart's Melville played their usual through the middle style of rugby and County were down 6 to 2 at the end of the first half. Despite tiring legs and aching bodies County made a spirited fight back with some excellent tackling and good passing out of contact which saw the scores creeping closer and whilst County won the second half 5 to 2, the end result was a defeat 8 to 7 against County. Well done to all the players, who never fail to amaze the coaches at how willing they are to put their bodies on the line, and to all the parents who turned up to cheer them along. Special thanks to the four amigos, Harry, Peter, Finlay and Oscar who also travelled to cheer their team mates along.
U11
The under 11's went into the Stewart's Melville tournament on the back of reaching two finals already this season. The boys had lost a very close final against Stewarts Melville last weekend and wanted to redress the balance. The team had trained really well on Saturday in appalling weather at Bridgehaugh so we arrived feeling optimistic.
First up we had Howe of Fife. We had beaten them comfortably earlier in the season but this was a much stronger looking Howe side and they gave Stirling a shock when they took an early lead. It was pace that got the better of Stirling but they fought back well for what was eventually a fairly comfortable 5-2 win. Stirling then played Mussleburgh who were a big side but couldn't match the quality of rugby from the County boys, which was great to watch. Some really good support play and use of the wings, leading to a 6-1 victory. It was more of the same against Portobello, with County coming out 5-0 winners. This set up a decider to see who would go through to the final as group winners against guess who? It was Stew Mel again.
The game was really tense all the way through. County took a 1-0 after some sustained pressure but were then under the cosh after two good breakaway tries from Stew Mel. County hung in there and tackled superbly. They kept the pressure on and managed to convert it, with two more tries. The Stirling support was desperate for the final whistle. The boys kept the game up in the Stew Mel half and fully deserved to come through a great game.
In the final, we met Watson's, who were a strong side. Watson's played good rugby - strong in the tackle and ruck, as well as using the ball well in attack. The County team were on the back foot from early on. They still showed some flashes of good attacking rugby but despite another committed performance from County, Watson's deservedly won the match (5-2). It was a day the team should be proud of. They have done exceptionally well to reach 3/3 finals and they have played some really exciting rugby. This is a squad with good depth, that is looking very promising. Well done to all the players on a fine performance.
U12
The team started with their first game against Musselburgh. The extended warm-up period seemed to have sunk in this time and we started well. Some quick tries in the first half meant we went in 5-0 up at the break. More confidence and power was asked of the boys in the ruck/breakdown area – this did show through in the second half. We won even more ball and used it wisely. Another 4 tries scored to make the final score 9-0. A good start with the tries coming from 7 boys. Next up were Portobello – an unknown to us. This game took the same format as the first game. We were convincinly winning the breakdowns through effective rucking and then using the ball sensibly. 5-0 at half time. The second half performance diminished in key areas with a lessened ability to get over the gain-line and move forward. However, we were able to score 2 more tries to finish with a 7-0 score.
Our last match of the pool was against Howe – another of our old foe. This turned out to be the best performance of the day. The tackling performance and rucking was immense. The use of the ball was a joy to see - some of the tries were worthy of seeing on YouTube! Half time score was 4-0. The boys went back to repeat the first half, but as in the Portobello game, our focus was lost and we weren’t as dominant. The biggest upset for the team was letting a try in. Final score was 6-1. This meant we were into the final – but had to wait for 2 matches to complete before we knew who we’d be playing.
We watched the decider in Pool A – North Berwick v Currie. It was a very messy match and both teams were getting upset and losing their shape/focus on skills. It finished with North Berwick winning and so after a short break for them to recover, we started. This was clearly the toughest game of the day. NB were excellent in rucking and won many of the rucks we were competing for. We persevered and slowly drove NB back towards their line. A well worked move ended up in a try and 1-0 to us at half-time. NB recovered and scored a try early in the second half after some disappointing missed tackles. 1-1 and all to play for. Some very interesting ref decisions near the end of the half made for the coaches and spectators to lose more fingernails. County re-grouped and slowly drove NB backwards. A lineout was won, the ball moved forward, a ruck won and the ball moved out to a forward who happened to be in the line – 10 paces later and a try scored! 2-1 to us. NB pushed harder and we ended up defending close to our line in the dying minutes. More interesting ref decisions later and finally the whistle went. Victory!
