Stewartry 7s Tournament

In the adult game, gone are the days when Sevens Tournaments occupied all the weekends from late March onwards. Now the 15-a-side game seems to go on forever and 7s is much reduced at club level. The same is true at youth level too but on Sunday Marr S2 found themselves competing in their only school or club 7s competition this season at the kind invitation of Stewartry Rugby Club in Castle Douglas.

We should have played Stewartry in our Club Conference but the weather always got in the way so it was good to meet up with them and 2 other clubs we don’t see much of: Newton Stewart (though we did play them in our conference this season) and Dumfries. Annan and Strathaven had also been invited but withdrew. The competition would be a round robin format with 3 points for a try and 1 for a conversion.

First up were the hosts in a game that was 10 minutes with no half time. Marr started brightly and scored through Calum Morton early on to settle the nerves. 2 more scores from Cameron Paterson and Harry Murray followed to put us 9-0 up before all our five subs were introduced. Stewartry fought hard to the end and got one score back but Marr saw the game out with a 9-3 win.

After the opening game the format was changed to 2 halves of 7 minutes each way. We had a 2 game break before playing Newton Stewart. To their credit our opponents never gave up but Marr were too strong even after introducing all our subs and we ran out 23-0 winners with tries from Shaun Smith (2), Calum Inglis, Cameron Paterson (3) and Logan Cotter with Calum and Cameron getting a conversion each.

The final game would be against Dumfries who, despite losing to Stewartry after back to back matches, looked a strong side and having won the Annan 7s the previous month knew what they were doing. A very tight first half was scoreless after 5 minutes before Calum Morton drove his way over and Calum Inglis converted. Dumfries then scored virtually unopposed from the restart to leave Marr only 4-3 in front at the break. The second half was equally tightly contested but the scores gradually came as Marr used the full width to stretch their opponents. Tries from David Craig (converted by Calum Inglis) and Cameron and Harry left the final score 14-3 to Marr.

With 3 wins out of 3 Marr were the winners of the tournament.

The Marr side conducted themselves well all day both during matches and when resting up between games showing a degree of professionalism in making sure they were ready for each game when it came. Our tackling (only 2 scores conceded in 38 minutes of 7s), support and off-loading all came together when it mattered.

Thanks to all the boys and supporters who made the long trek to Castle Douglas and thanks to Stewartry Rugby Club for organising the tournament and the catering.

This is our last competitive outing as S2 and, possibly, Cameron Paterson’s last outing as a Marr Midi player as he goes to Strathallan School in the autumn. Everyone at Marr wishes Cameron all the best with his rugby in the future.