Perthshire Festival of Rugby

May 6 2011 Perthshire Advertiser Friday

ON A weekend that was bathed in sunshine there was plenty to celebrate both on and off the field.

And all those involved should be congratulated on producing such a feast of rugby and celebration.

The Perthshire 7s Development squad kicked off the Perthshire Festival of Rugby during the College and University 7s competition and finished runners up in their pool with just one loss against the experienced St Andrews University.

Two tries for Kirley and Letham closed out the semi final which set up a second encounter with the St Andrews side and although the home team provided sterner opposition they still couldn‘t overcome the speed and strength of the University side.

The Perthshire Golden Eagles faced teams from Brechin, Waid, Hillfoots, Mamouths and Biggar in the third Scottish Golden Oldies Festival on Saturday, and the added pressure of trying to protect an unbeaten record since the first year of the festival.

The Mamouth team, with a squad of 50 players, were up first and both sides were obviously jaded by the morning sunshine as both sides were scoreless at half time.

However, in the second half the Perthshire backs began to find the holes in the opposition backline and the searing pace of wingers Campbell and Rankin saw them crash over in the try line in the space of three minutes; unfortunatley the first was cancelled due to Mr Rankin running more than 20 metres before passing (Golden Oldies rules) and the second was from a forward pass.

The game remained scoreless and both sides celebrated in the marquee when the first Perthshire Beer Festival was officially opened. Wins against the next three teams meant a final winner-takes-all game against the unbeaten Biggar who had a rather “youthful” looking side.

The previous games had taken their toll and although there was no score at half time the Biggar forwards had squandered two scoring chances, and with crucial injuries to the home side the men from the Borders began to stretch the Perthshire defence in the second half, and two tries in quick succession proved too much and the Golden Eagles had lost their first ever game.

In the true spirit of “friendship and fraternity” all those competing swapped tales of each other’s escapades in the midst of one of the best parties ever seen at the North Inch.

The finale of the weekend saw Minis from Perthshire and Hillfoots played host to the touring teams of the Bank of England (Englands largest rugby club) and Beauvais from France.

The Eaglets kicked off the morning session with a series of obstacle course, skills practises and short sided games and their enthusiasm was clear for all to see. Next up were the minis who played a series of round robin games ,fittingly, each team provided one winner in the four different age groups. Finally, two hard-fought S1/S2 games between Beauvais and Perthshire brought a close to the rugby action and those present finished the day feasting on the Hog Roast, sandwiches and baking provided by the Perthshire Club and parents.

This was a weekend that will remain in the memory for many a year.

Minis

THIS Sunday all P4-P7 teams will be playing at the Howe of Fife tournament and those wishing to participate should meet at the Howe grounds at 10.30am or be at Bells Car Park for 9.30am.

Coaches are advising players to bring both boots and trainers on the day as the pitches may still be too hard for studs.

All players are reminded that there are additional training sessions on Wednesday nights, these start at 6.30pm and finish at 7.30pm.