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Marr Rugby  Fixtures & Results

View from the touchline:

A flying start!

RBS West Regional Shield - 1st Round

Waysiders/Drumpellier RFC 7 Marr Rugby 48

Season 2011-12 got underway in earnest for Marr with a visit to Langloan, for the first round of the RBS West Regional Shield competition, to face Waysiders/ Drumpellier who are also league opponents this year.

A bright and sunny day was made even brighter with the display of the new strips, kindly sponsored by McKays of Troon, and some fine and free flowing rugby that saw Marr score seven tries to a single response.

Langloan has never been a happy hunting ground for Marr and memories were stretched to think of when or even if we had ever previously won there. The nearest ‘best result’ seemed to be a 14 all draw many years ago.

Our last venture to Coatbridge was some two seasons ago and then the first score came within two minutes of play. The timing was recreated but thankfully it was a Marr try this time around. Some early pressure was broken up and WD tried to clear their lines with a long defensive kick. Coaches, players and fans are keen to see these kicks reach touch if it’s their side that are kicking. For an attacking side the opposite holds true and we were delighted to see the ball spiral towards Andy Watson who fielded brilliantly and embarked on the first of a series of attacks on WD’s defences only to be thwarted just short of the try line. With forwards arriving quickly and in good numbers a perfect set back allowed a simple pop to Fraser Grant who was unstoppable from 5m and touched down to score our first competitive try of the season. Gregor Ness, who had an excellent game at standoff, stepped up to slot home the conversion.

Try two followed after 15 minutes and this time it was Connor Bickerstaff who got his account for the season up and running. This spurred WD onto the front foot and their efforts were rewarded with a fine try from their fullback. Buoyed by this their pack started to work even harder and for a ten minute period threatened Marr’s line. Their number 8 was playing exceptionally well and posed a significant threat. Gaining a penalty 5m out they elected to take a scrum and from this the textbook eight pickup and charge was well anticipated and covered to such great effect that it forced a speculative offload which Andrew Bate was able to pounce on. He then led a breakout and after covering over seventy metres offloaded to Fraser Grant and Paul Burke in support and in turn a final pass was popped to Kris Kirk who crossed for the touchdown. A great try set against the run of play and made even better when you considered the efforts of Andrew and the many supporting runners.

It’s fair to say that by the end of the game WD were sick of the sight of our purple and gold strips. Because our support play was so good, we always had bodies aplenty about and hungry to get involved, there was a feeling that we had more than 15 players on the field at any time.

For the rest of the first half Marr continued to press and probe WD’s defence and it was only some serious tackling that kept the purple and gold tide at bay. WD were penalised just on half time and Marr elected to kick and Gregor Ness slotted over for another three points.

Half time - WD 7 Marr 24

From the restart Marr took the game to WD and were rewarded with try number four and this came from clever play by the forwards who took quick advantage of a WD lineout ball, just inside our half, that was overthrown and Fraser Ferguson scavenging at the tail romped off on one of his trademark rhino charges with Don Morrison nimbly pursuing in support. There was defensive cover in position but the 2 to 4 odds weren’t sufficient and perfect timing of a pass allowed Don to steer a line through the remaining defence and touchdown leaving teh defenders in his wake.

WD were trying their hardest to repel the onslaught and continued to tackle their hearts out. There was a growing frustration and this led to a yellow card for a poorly timed and directed tackle that illegally took out Scott Bickerstaff, who was competing hard against Andy Watson to be WD’s tormentor in chief. Against 14 men Marr took the penalty to the corner and from the lineout there was a pile over - Marr scored with Ritchie McNicol getting the credit for a great forward effort.

During the final quarter Scott Bickerstaff gained some personal reward for his efforts with two fine tries and these rounded off a very good team display.

All eighteen players involved played well and their efforts in pre-season training stood them in good stead for the match, with some excellent, skills, stamina and commitment on display. The support provided by Barceló Marine has paid dividends.

Marr’s man of the match - Gregor Ness

A joy to watch and more to come. The early signs are very positive and we look forward to our next test when on Saturday we greet GHK in our first league match of the season. They present a significant challenge and like us play fast and open rugby. They had similar success in round 1 of the shield with a 48 -7 victory away against Newton Stewart.

This sets up what is likely to be a cracking encounter - so get along to Fullarton on Saturday and support Marr Rugby.

The future is bright...

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