Marr College U18s v St Columbas U18s

Due to the unavailabilty of a number of St Columbas players last weekend it was agreed that the Under 18 match be rarranged for Wednesday afternoon , the fixture now being played at Troon. Early season results by St Columbas had been impressive and Marr knew they would have to raise their game to get the desired result,

The first half was played into the wind. Despite this Marr took the game to their opponents and after drives close to the line by Press and McCulloch, hooker Keir Gaw went over under the posts for the games first try. This was converted (just) by Paterson. 7-0 to Marr.

The next period of play was a bit messy with any flow in the game punctuated by the referees whistle for infringements, mostly against Marr. Despite this Marr maintained the upper hand and after another break from Press into the twenty two Marr were awarded a penalty. They opted for a scrum and from this wing forward Mackenzie Smith barged over and with the conversion missed Marr now had a twelve point lead.

St Columbas then lost one of their front row forwards following a clash of heads at the kick off. This resulted in uncontested scrums for the remainder of the match which probably suited St Columbas more as up until then Marr had been dominant in that area. After the delay fror treatment poor defensive work by the home team let St Columbas straight back into the match with a try in the corner to reduce the lead to 12-5.

However Marr returned to the attack and just before half time the forwards created space for stand off Nicholl to switch direction and score with Paterson again converting to end the half 19-5 in Marr's favour.

The second half started brightly and after some great interpaasing by the forwards Gaw went over again under the posts. Paterson made the conversion to increase the lead to 26-5. Marr continued to press and at times the only thing preventing further scores were the indiscretions seen by the referee that continued to mount. However after a kick and chase by scrum half MacDougall, the St Columbas full back was robbed of the ball by Press and the ball was moved quickly to centre Sandy Morgan who scored. The conversion by Paterson being successful the score increased to 33-5.

Credit to St Columbas who came back at Marr and put them under sustained pressure. The defensive line, McCulloch in particular, made some notable tackles but with the penalty count racking up the referee eventually pulled out his yellow card and O'Leary would miss the remainder of the match. After numerous phases St Columbas went over for a deserved try to make the score 33-10.

Marr had the final say in the game winning the ball from the kick off . The ball was moved quickly for Ethan Reilly to score in the corner. The conversion was unsuccessful so the final score was 38-10 to Marr.

This was their best display of the season to date. Generally the defence was strong and the backs looked dangerous though the penalty count against gave some cause for concern.

Marr now play Carrick Academy at home in the Conference league on Saturday, 10am kick off, before travelling to Biggar in the Cup on Tuesday. If you are free on Saturday morning please come along and support the team. The futures bright!