Marr Rugby’s introduction to life and the step up needed to successfully compete in the Premiership continued with Currie providing some learning points.

Match summary to follow

See match photographs here and better ones courtesy of Ken Ferguson here

Marr’s preparations for the match were far from ideal as injury, illness and other unavailability continued to make its mark on squad availability - in particular in the forwards. Fraser Grant's injury last week means he'll be out of action for several weeks. To compound matters Angus Johnston, ruled out following injury at training earlier in the week, was joined late Friday and into Saturday by Stephen Adair, Ross Miller and Callum Craig. Added to this, with Kyle Hatherall out until mid-November, Marr’s head coach Craig Redpath had make some significant positional changes with several players forced to play out of normal position to provide cover. This included Chris Nisbet who started the match in the second row where he partnered Ewan Bulger. Chris played there for just over an hour and before injuries in the front row meant that he was stepped forward to his normal position to cover at prop. This meant that Josh Evans made his Premiership debut in the unfamiliar position of second row. In the back row Ben Johnston’s return to the squad for his Premiership debut was timely and there he partnered Ross Jackson who was making his second start of the season and Mackenzie Pearce.

So far this season Marr’s pack has been under significant pressure at the set piece scrum but for the opening sixty minutes they held their own against a bigger pack and in fact had a rare moment in the second half where they won a penalty as they shoved Currie back off their own put in. The continuing presence in the front row of Glasgow Warrior James Malcom was again welcomed and it was clear that he was starting to build a good rapport with props Greg Jackson and Will Farquhar. Marr’s added bonus was the debut at prop of new recruit Fraser Watt. He brought on some helpful bulk and experience during the first and second half as he provided injury cover for Will Farquhar.

Playing in heavy conditions both sides did well to try to keep the match as open as possible. Currie were better at exploiting opportunities from mistakes and posed a growing threat as the match progressed. Thomas Gordon was in dynamic form in attack and defence and frequently was the player who made the telling tackle to thwart promising moves from Marr. He was also the player who created the opening for Curries third try that sealed the win.

Marr Rugby 1st XV man of the match: Ross Jackson

Marr Rugby 1st XV scorers
Tries: Will Farquhar and Fraser Watt
Conversion: Craig Kolarik

Marr Rugby next fixtures (Saturday 28 October 2017)
1s – Away v Stirling
2s - Home v Boroughmuir
3s - Away v Ardrossan 2s