Marr’s 1st XV said an emotional goodbye to the pitch which so many talented rugby players have graced. An impressive victory rounded off a good game on a miserable morning.

Marr were definitely enjoying the majority of the opening stages as St Columbas couldn’t even get out their own 22 at one stage. The Purple and Gold continued to pile pressure on the St Columbas backline, which has to be said, was solid in denying Marr for large periods of the match.

Although eventually, Marr’s early dominance paid off. For much of the beginning of the match, all the play was happening through the middle. However, when Marr got the ball wide on the right, this caused bother for the team in green. The ball came to Ryan Fitzpatrick who took it in his stride and commenced his demolition run, knocking his opponents out the way with sheer strength to touch the ball over the try-line. Jack Scott then kicked the conversion from an unfavourable angle. Marr up 7-0.

St Columbas appeared to be rattled and unorganised. Marr took full advantage of this by scoring the second try of the game. A hopeful kick through the middle for Roddy McIntyre, who made some impressive tackles throughout the match, was missed from the St Columbas full back. As a result, after some persistent play from Craig Baird to slide tackle their full back to win the ball only yards away from the try-line, the ball ricocheted to Hooker Callum Steele who finished the job off. Jack Scott once again scored the conversion.

In the second half though, St Columbas began to play a more attacking and expansive style of rugby. Unfortunately for Marr, their opponent’s bright start to the half led to a try. A poor clearance kick right on the Marr try-line was blocked and then the ball was touched down to bring St Columbas back into the game.

A little setback for the Troon boys was not going to stop them making this a memorable last match on the 1st XV grass pitch before it’s replaced by an artificial field in January. To ensure this, Robbie Stevenson got his name onto the score sheet by scoring his first try of the season. Some nice build up play of the right hand side for Marr led to Robbie seizing his chance by squeezing through a gap in the resilient backline of St Columbas. However Jack Scott did not score the conversion this time.

The crowd larger than usual, who combatted the horrendous wind and rain, made a loud roar when the referee blew the full time whistle confirm back-to-back wins for Marr. The players were visibly delighted with another hard fought win and were obviously pleased to have won the last ever match on the famous 1st XV pitch. Also, a good way to end 2014 because next week’s match is postponed.

Report by Ewan Paton