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News Article |
| NAIRN INVITATIONAL FIXTURE 27/05/12 |
| Wed 30th May 2012 |
 With the weatherforecasting sunshine and temperatures of 20+C, Moray P4/5 & P6/7 turned out for their last competitive fixture of the season.
Teams from; Nairn, Strathspey, Ross Sutherland & Caithness all arrived for this invitational event, with rugby, tug of war and ‘Big mouth’ passing competitions taking place.
Within the rugby, P4/5had 12 players which needed to be rotated because of the heat. Led well by Cailean Fraser (captain on the day), especially with his running and tackling skills.
Ross Sutherland was the opener, and although they worked hard, the victory by Moray showed promise which has bubbled throughout the season. Strathspey were organised and committed, but again, Moray had enough in hand to win comfortably.
Lunch arrived – normally our downfall!! But, with plenty of time between fixtures and keeping the team focussed, this didn’t prove to be a distraction.
Caithness tried hard but we clicked back into gear and won well. Finally the home side Nairn, but by this point Moray P4/5s were in the groove and convincingly won by a clear margin.
So, P4/5 team ended up with an outcome of played 4 won 4!! – teamwork, effort with noticeable improvement in passing and breakdown play gave them a well deserved top of the group finish.
Our individual medal was awarded to Ewan Douglas, not only for his effort on the day, but his overall development and commitment over the course of the season!
 As for the P6/7s, they started with a team of 12 today, after all the worries about having too many players.Ewan Casburn, Isobel, Keiran Jack and Fraser Hogg all succumbing to variousmisadventures!
Ross Sutherland was the first team, who beat us 3-0, mostlyby the action of some huge boys who managed to keep running with our boyshanging off them as we were tackling a little high. Even in that matchthough, as it progressed we settled, got stronger and played some great running rugby, containing them well. A few dropped passes in their 5 ydline deprived us of at least a couple of tries.
From then on, in the 3 remaining games the boys just kept getting stronger.We lost Gregor and Bruce at lunch as well. But, we managed some great open rugby with lovely passes out wide and fantastic runs down the wing.
Pleasingly,everyone stepped up with their tackling and I can safely say that no teamout-rucked us today. We were by far the smaller side (on average) but some ferocious tackling by everyone, powerful rucking and quick recycling of theball was a joy to watch and 2 of the other coaches commented on how wellthey had recycled and moved the ball. I think their awareness and visionoff the ball showed today. So, justifiably all the remaining games were won.
 Whilst I am obviously biased, I honestly think as a team we were, if not thestrongest, then certainly the team with the most flair and potential, withgreat depth across all our players. Ross Sutherland had a powerful team oflarge boys but relied on one or two very strong players; we had 10 whoreally stepped up and will have the bruises to prove it.
I think the improvement across these boys has been marked this season. The S1s are going to get some sorely needed talent from these now ex P7youngsters moving up (Ross Sutherland asked, based on today, if we would like at least 2 friendly fixtures at S1 level with them which I believe is agreat compliment), and with the likes of Daniel C, Jake and Ewan staying at P7 they have a great base to progress there too.
Parents chose the best player and 'team' player, unfortunately in the endthere was only one award, which went deservedly to Daniel Cotton who had aninspired day, and, as a P6 player it was his awareness which stood out.
P6/7s were solidly out-weighed in the Tug of war, but that (thankfully) degenerated into a fun-fest so was discounted!!!!
P6/7 missed out on count back with the big mouth challenge, as we were leading the Big Mouth until Ross Sutherland pipped us by 2 I believe to take the Festival honours. The parents were all saying how well everyone had done and had a blast too, which was echoed by all at P4/5 too!
 Thanks to Robin and the team at Nairn, for hosting this event.
Thanks also to Mark Burgoyne (who will be moving up to coach P6/7) and Mick Letch (coming in to take on the gap) for their help on the day, and Nick Robertshaw and Nigel Tiddy (who will be moving up to coach the S1 side), and to the Parents who have loyally supported the teams all season, especially on our travels.
A Moray P5/6 side will hopefully be travelling to Aberlour next weekend to play a friendly against the Speyside Primary team.
Well done to all of the players, for their hard work throughout the season, and good luck to the P5s & P7s, as they take the next step up to play P6/7 and S1 rugby next season.
We look forward to doing this all over again in the 2012-13 season!
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Caledonia 2 North |
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| Aberdeenshire |
12 |
46 |
| Highland 2nd XV |
11 |
46 |
| Moray |
12 |
40 |
| Ross Sutherland |
10 |
22 |
| Banff |
12 |
19 |
| Mackie |
10 |
10 |
| Aberdeen Grammar 2nd XV |
9 |
1 |
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Last 1st XV Game |
| 1st XV Season (2021/22) |
| Banff 33 - 39 Moray |
| 5th Mar 22 - KO: 15:00 |
| Venue: Duff House |
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