Marr write their own history.
Last Saturday Marr wrote themselves into the rugby history books, by retaining the Bill McLaren Shield by defeating Jed 43 points to 12 with another good performance.
This was the fourth home defence of this notable trophy that now allows Marr the priviledge of engraving the name MARR on the Shield. Now according to the rules written by the great man himself, Marr take the Shield ‘on the road’ to defend it. This will of course be against Musselburgh next week.
Captain Conor Bickerstaff opened the scoring when he noticed a front row forward in the defensive line that allowed him to use his side step and pace to dash through and score between the sticks.
Only a few minutes later Benedict Grant made it two tries, after some great power phases that drove the Jed defence deep back towards their own line. The continual thrust of the Marr forwards totally overwhelming Jed, allowing Bene to drive over the line.
Several minutes later Marr were reminded that Jed still have class backs, when a clever grubber kick through the Marr defence, allowed Lewis Young to dive on the ball for Jed’s first score.
Immediately Marr responded with a similar try to their previous, this time it was pack leader Mackenzie Pearce who drove over from behind the advancing Marr maul.
Marr got their bonus point try five minutes from half time. It was Marr’s scrum half Jack Preston, who is always keen to snipe behind his forwards, when he spotted a small gap, allowing him to dive over the Jed line.
It took another ten minutes for Marr to get into gear in the second half. Mackenzie Pearce it was once again, when he repeated his feat in the first half, as he appeared with the ball in his arms after driving over from a now totally dominant Marr pack.
Jed were still fighting and their heads never went down and it was youthful replacement Finlay Campbell who charged down a clearance kick. Finlay managed to gather the ball and feed it to the onrushing Gregor Young who scored between the posts.
Fraser Grant was next on the score sheet, as once again Marr’s pack constructed multiple phase play that Jed could not cope with. Fraser had the easy task of driving through a now ragged defence.
The final try was Marr forwards pinning and overwhelming Jed that allowed Marr to pass the ball out their back line that gave Marr’ Scotland 7’s player the easy task of using his pace to touch down in the corner.
The final play summed up Jed’s day. Lewis Young looked certain to score as he crossed over the Marr line, but failed to notice big Cody Cunningham coming in with a big hit, that dislodged the ball from the full backs arms.
It was an impressive display by Marr, with their pack totally dominant and their backs managing to keep the Jed backs under lock and key.
Craig Redpath was particularly impressed with Mackenzie Pearce, Benedict Grant and Olli Rossi all for their ball carrying. In the back it was Gregor Paxton that got a mention.

Any of the aforementioned players would have deserved man of the match.
Teams –
Marr: G Montgomery; S Bickerstaff, Gregor Paxton, C Bickerstaff (captain), R Dalgleish; C Sturgeon, J Preston; W Farquhar, O Rossi, C Henderson, E Hamilton-Bulger, F Grant, M Pearce, R Brown, B Grant. Subs: A Muir, B Sweet, C Cunningham, G Ness, J Scott.

Jed-Forest: L Young; C Young, Gregor Young, R Marshall, G Munro; R Yourston, N Stingl; Grant Paxton, F Campbell, T Jeffrey, D Tjombie, B Saxton, Garry Young, F Scott, J McGough. Subs: A Keeler, H Meadows, E Lauder, M Mitchell.

Referee: J Perriam
Scorers –
Marr: Tries: C Bickerstaff, B Grant, M Pearce 2, J Preston, F Grant, S Bickerstaff. Cons: C Sturgeon 4.
Jed-Forest: Tries: L Young, Gregor Young. Con: R Yourston.
Scoring sequence (Marr first): 5-0, 7-0, 12-0, 14-0, 14-5, 19-5, 21-5, 26-5 half-time, 31-5, 33-5, 33-10, 33-12, 38-12, 43-12.

Man of the Match: With two tries and his general work rate about the park, it has to go to Marr flanker Mackenzie Pearce.