With several weeks of anticipation and hard work fund raising, it was with some excitement that the ‘Young Stags’ tour party gathered at 7.30am on Friday 26th March waiting for the Maynes bus to head off on tour.
The bus left exactly on time at 8am heading south for Peebles. At this stage there was a little nervousness in the whole party, perhaps still a bit sleepy from the early start, but didn’t stop the establishment of a few ‘tour rules’!
First up was Jono to look after the tour mascot for the weekend, which he did very well, despite the efforts of some of his ‘mates’ to kidnap the poor thing - the mascot that is - not Jono.
Also, the first VIP for the weekend, with the forwards providing the bodyguard until the first match, with gun sightings and bomb scares, but nobody going on ‘Fire’!
With a ‘comfort’ stop at Kinross Services for 45 mins - because as the driver said, if he stops then he must stop for 45mins - nothing less, meant we were quite tight for time getting to Peebles High School, but with the local lad on the bus, James Sloggie was able to guide us straight to his old school. With only about 20mins to get changed, warm up and be ready to play, the lads did very well to get the journey out of their legs and get going.
Peebles High School U17/16 v Moray ‘Young Stags’
Although this was quite a young Peebles side, they were very well drilled with good contact skills. The first half was end to end stuff, but without any scoring, although both sides were trying to play open rugby despite heavy conditions underfoot.
 As Moray got the journey out of their system in the second half and refocused in the contact area, their scrummage power was beginning to tell on the home pack and Moray took their chances by scoring three tries. One especially good try from a shortened lineout - ‘Caledonia’ ball - to the front, quick interplay and support with a run in for Struan. This demonstrated the attitude for the play throughout the tour - open and willing to try something different.
Final result: Peebles 0 v 17 Moray
After the match, the home side invited us back to Peebles Rugby Clubhouse in the heart of the town for some food and a bit of banter, then it was straight on to the hotel to get checked in to the rooms, a quick change and back on the bus (again!) to go to Murrayfield to watch Edinburgh v Scarlets in the Magners League.
With Ewan in the Elvis outfit (D..k of the Day!) and Connor in a ‘morph’ suit, they were picked from the crowd to provide the half-time entertainment on the pitch. This was to attempt to hit the posts with a drop-kick from the 22 - it is maybe just as well they had disguises on, although they did bring a big cheer from the crowd and was great for the atmosphere of the tour.
With the driver having concerns about the 14 hour rule for driving that day, we had to be back at the hotel by 10pm, so it was a bit of a quick dash back down to Peebles and try to settle in for the night.
Saturday 26th
Breakfast at 8am and again a few bleary eyes - a bit early for some to wake up and makes us wonder what was going on during the night and how late they were getting some sleep. However, all were there and ready to go - on the bus to Portobello to play their U18s.
Portobello U18 v Moray ’Young Stags’
 It was a very windy day, but dry and once again, Moray combined good tight play with good handling to play some very good rugby, which impressed those watching the game.
Porty were unlucky not to score with a good backs move, with the full back coming on the angle, however, he wasn’t able to control the ball over the line and the try wasn’t given.
The touring side were still playing with as much freedom as possible and were able to score four tries to win the second tour match 24 - 0.
Final Result Portobello 0 v 24 Moray
After leaving Portobello, who are always very good hosts, the bus headed straight to Selkirk Rugby Club, whose 1st XV were playing at home.
 Thanks to Fozzy’s Dad, Eric, we were met by John Rutherford, who was great with all the lads, coming to meet us and then chatting for a long while. Also, having finished coaching the Selkirk U18 side for the afternoon, Iain Paxton came back to the club, so the lads were able to have a chat with him as well. Selkirk then provided some pies for everyone before we left, which were very much appreciated, as ever. It was great to see the Premier One club on a Saturday afternoon with the 1st XV playing at home. A fantastic atmosphere all around.
Saturday evening.
After Connor did his best to ‘ruck’ a tractor tyre at the Selkirk training ground (also acquiring a small souvenir for Brian!), it was back on the bus to Peebles. Everyone then went their separate ways to get some food around the town, but gathered in the conference room in the hotel to play some ’games’. A lively quiz was followed by an extremely competitive obstacle race with a few memorable carpet burns to show for it!
Sunday morning and the sun came up with some very tired faces and some quite sore bodies arriving for breakfast despite being allowed a long lie until 8.30am!
A morning walk and the whole tour party arrived at Peebles Rugby ground for the Colts Sevens. The draw for the day was as a straight knock-out tournament and Moray were drawn against one of the tournament favourites, Melrose, in the first round!
With Jim Telfer coming along with the Melrose squad, 3 coaches and the squad including several National U18 players, it was always going to be a fantastic occasion for the Moray lads.
 When the first half got under way, some of the tiredness in the tour players’ legs looked evident and two missed tackles led to two (unconverted) tries for Melrose. At this stage they clearly thought this unknown touring side were going to roll over and not compete. However, the discipline returned to the Moray side, especially in the defensive shape, making play very difficult for the Melrose. It was also evident that the intensity was rising and Moray were more than a match in the set piece and in the contact area.
Still in the first half, a break out from Dale Smith saw him sprint clear from inside the half way line, only for him to encounter a large hill or something in the middle of the pitch and fall over his own feet! However, the chasing defense were unable to stop him getting back to his feet and running in for a try which he converted. The game was starting to look very interesting and the crowd were really starting to cheer Moray on. In fact, the tourists were able to call upon their own support from the area with Lee Millar coming through from Gala to see the lads.
With Melrose having scored another unconverted try, the score was 15-7, some great sevens rugby was played by Moray. Great tackling, good contact skills, straight running and quick hands led to a try under the posts from Steve Muirden – set up by Kieren Stephens.
Score at 15-7 to Melrose prior to this passage of play
Time was now against Moray, the score at 15-14 to Melrose and Melrose in possession just playing the clock down, but good shape in defense led to a loose pass which Struan Henderson intercepted to run in for a ‘last play of the game’ score, converted to finish at 21-15 to Moray. Melrose were left to make the short journey back along the road after a much shorter day than they were hoping for.
‘Last play of the game’
The reaction from the crowd and from whole tour party shows just what it meant to us all to compete and win against such strong sides.
It was an effort to lift the players yet again, this time to play Haddington in the next round and despite scoring two tries and being a close game for the first half, the fatigue was showing and Haddington eventually won the match 32-12. Haddington went on to the final, only eventually losing to Selkirk.
This was the end of the playing side of the tour, but the whole Moray contingent were really adding to the atmosphere of the crowd, which everyone was appreciating and we stayed to watch the rest of tournament, before walking back to the hotel.
 The Tour Dinner was booked in at the Hotel and all the party duly turned out in club ties and had a very good meal, for which our thanks go again to the Tontine Hotel.
After the meal, the Tour Judge presided over quite a number of misdemeanours committed by the tour players. The guilty parties were duly condemned and suitable forfeits applied! However, what goes on tour, stays on tour!
 The remainder of the evening included watching some of the tour video, which thanks to Sandy Duncan’s ingenuity (finding an electric socket for the camera after the battery ran out) he was able to video the sevens match against Melrose and we were able to watch it as many times as we wanted that evening!
The rest of the night descended in to a bit of a blur for quite a few, but once again, all were up for another early breakfast, although some were a little less hungry than others!
After leaving the Tontine, it was quite a quiet bus journey up to Murrayfield for a guided tour of the stadium, which was very well done, especially seeing around the changing rooms for the International players.
Just in the passing, the lads were delighted to see Ross Ford, who was great chatting to everyone. Then, not to be outdone, Mike Blair and Chris Paterson joined in. Rowan collected yet more signatures on his very prized Moray shirt, which we are sure he will treasure for a long time. These were just chance encounters, but once again added something special to what was a very special weekend of rugby.
It was great to be involved with a rugby tour for Moray Rugby Club. Everything about the tour went fantastically well and for the young players to be immersed in the atmosphere of rugby was great.
The ‘Young Stags’ we hope will become a bi-annual event and really give each young player coming through the age groups at Moray something to look forward to at U18 level.
MORAY RUGBY CLUB ‘YOUNG STAGS’ TOUR 2010
Special thanks to all involved in organising, fundraising and everything done to make the tour so special.
Jan, Carol, Tina, Lynne, Scott, Sandy, Rowan, Alex, Moray Rugby Club
And all the players and supporters throughout
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