Marr post historic win in the borders!
Unusually the weather was set to fair, when Marr travelled to Riverside Park in Jedburgh to face their old rivals Jed Forest.
The day started with the grand opening of the ‘three 9,s Lounge’. This was in tribute to the three British Lion scrum halves that they have produced over the last three decades. Roy Laidlaw, Gary Armstrong and Greg Laidlaw were all present at the event to officially open this great new facility.
Also present was former British Lion head coach Jim Telfer, who gave a great speech before the action commenced.
The match kicked off and for the first ten minutes honours were even, until Marrs stand-off Colin Sturgeon notched a penalty to give Marr a slim advantage.
For the next twenty five minutes Jed became totally dominant, with three tries all coming from their slick back division, that quite simply tore Marr apart.
The game then changed, after Jed’s hooker Karl Lamont was yellow carded for illegally infringing as Marr bore down on Jed’s line. The resultant penalty was driven close to the line, recycled out the three quarters only to find Marr captain Conor Bickerstaff in space to dart through and score between the posts.
The half time whistle blew with Marr 21- 10 down.
With some stern and factual words from head coach Redpath at the break, Marr were now focused in the task ahead. However Jed had other ideas and scored one minute in, when Callum Young picked a great line to split the Marr defence and score between the sticks. 28 to 10 down!
Marr were now staring defeat in the face and were looking at each other with dismayed faces.
I have watched many hundred games if rugby in my time, but I have never seen a match so dramatically change in such a short period of time.
In the next twenty five minutes Marr scored seven tries! These scores came from total pack dominance. Marr were winning penalties at many scrums, completely dominating the lineout and were playing like team that wanted desperately to win the match.
Not only were the forwards on top , our backs wanted to show that they can play a bit, and this they did with Conor Bickerstaff scoring another three tries , his brother Scott scoring, scrum half Jack Preston, Colin Sturgeon and Iosefo Turaga all scoring. All these players are backs, however it was the Marr forwards that were the dominant force in this game.
Great performances from our front row especially man of the match William Farquhar. Big Bene Grant also had a great day ball carrying.
Marr used their bench well with young Scotland under 20 Jamie Drummond getting a run out and just returning from injury Fraser Grant looked his usual self.
All in all this was a very strange, highly entertaining game that Marr will remember for a very long time.
Marr will be truly delighted at this result. Jed won’t be too despondent, as they has a few of their usual forwards missing through injury. When they get there pack back in tact they will cause many teams big headaches in the future.
Marr are looking in good fettle for many tough matches ahead, but we must remember the strength in depth that we possess. With at least eight regular 1st Xv players turning out for our 2nd XV that will all be ready to push for their places back in the top team.
Next match is at home to Musselburgh on Saturday, where there will be a big crowd expected to watch this seasons exciting team.

Referee Ben Blain

Try scores: Conor Bickerstaff [4], Scott Bickerstaff, Colin Sturgeon, Jack Preston , Iosefo Turaga.
Conversions: Colin Sturgeon 7, 1 penalty.