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Thanks to a gentle nudge during the Old Crocks tournament, Duncan Small provides the report from the newly re-established East of Scotland 3rd XV league which took place on the 29th of March. Whether a report would have been produced had the retiring hooker not been on the score sheet is left to the readers to decide:
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Melrose win inaugural East of Scotland 3rd XV League Tens tournament - but more significantly Chunks scores three tries.
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This report is possibly a few days late having completely forgotten that I had made the commitment to my loyal fan to report on the first ever tens tournament involving the teams from the East of Scotland 3rd XV League. I have no real excuse for the tardy nature of my offering other than I had spent last week basking in the warm glow of a three try haul making me the top try scorer for the home team. Some others might mention that I was only joint top scorer but fast guys are supposed to score tries unlike bloaty blokes from the front row. You may have guessed that there will be more of this throughout the report.
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After a few clubs were unable to raise ten men for the tournament the four teams left to battle it out were Melrose, Edinburgh Accies, Royal High Corstorphine and also the home team whose already minimalist numbers were under threat from the other home teams who were playing across the road. Dennis was forced to make a few trips to check whether John McLellan and Giff were ready to go and play proper rugby.
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With the team numbers cut down slightly it was decided that the event would take the form of a round robin with the top two playing a final. With the first game being Sonians versus Melrose there was a good amount of reminiscing from the home players about the royal stuffing handed out on the away visit to Melrose (although some of us weren’t involved and probably would have made the difference!) earlier in the season. With the likes of Andy Purves and Graham Shiel lining up for Rose there was a certain justification for concern. Added to this was the “slick” pre-match warm up we enjoyed and the Buchanan brothers particularly enjoyed, suggesting that surely the back line was simply mucking about with all the ball dropping.
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Having also forgotten to practice any line out calls etc we took to the pitch under the watchful eye of referee and self-confessed “pedantic old man” Rob Easton – who are we to disagree. It was to be a long afternoon for Rob having to ref all the games after a 2nd ref failed to materialise however he managed to get through unscathed we believe.
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The first game kicked off with the home team combining pace, speed and power in the front row with a bunch of donkeys behind them! In all honesty there was a certain element of taking the game to them with the home team retaining a good amount of ball and subsequently being the first to score. In pub quizzes across the land from now on there will be the regular question of who was the first try scorer in the East of Scotland 3rd XV league Tens tournament (!) with the answer being of course Duncan Small. That may have caused us to lose a little focus as Melrose scored two more tries in the first half. The 2nd half was no great improvement and we ended up a pretty well beaten outfit, but the fact remained that I had scored the first try – which was nice.
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Accies had arrived with only 5 or 6 players and so needed some of our guys to pull on the strip to make up the numbers for their game with RHC. After a few games of paper, scissors, stone the lucky lads were chosen and had to peel themselves out of the ever popular “Love from the Heart” strips and pull on the unfamiliar strips that had a certain whiff of gin and tonic.
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Next up for Watsonians was Accies after they had been edged out by RHC in the previous game. Another comfortable home win resulted with two superb tries from the third son of Ronald and Marion Small. You can’t coach genius which is good because that would involve turning up for training.
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Melrose took on RHC and won after a good game with some great tries – can you tell that I can’t remember a damn thing about this game? The final “pool” game was scratched by Accies when it was decided it was getting cold and likely to rain – tough guys us rugby players.
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This meant that the grand final (!) pitched the unbeaten Melrose 10 against the by now thoroughly knackered Watsonian 10. To add to the joy of the experience the coldest April in history gifted the finalists with freezing rain which even the Melrose team found unpleasant so it wasn’t just us city slickers being soft puffs.
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I probably should remember the scoring events but again my memory fails me at this point but I think the visitors scored a couple of tries in the first half but we managed to haul one back with a long range effort from our flying winger Sandy Cameron fly hacking from miles out and winning the race to the line. This was in contrast to the earlier fixture when “flying” centre Gav Paul only just reached the line having almost been closed down by the oldest player in the tournament who had a bad hamstring, a heavy cold and his laces tied together!
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By the end of the final which hilariously was ten minutes each way as opposed to the match seven minute halves – oh how we enjoyed that extra playing time – Melrose had again proved comfortable winners but we had given them a pretty good game.
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The general feeling was that the tournament had been a great success and all had enjoyed the experience, so a great big pat on the back for Roddy Hathway who was the main man for getting the event up and running. Having played his final game of rugby it seems his body did the human equivalent of a comedy car falling apart action with varying parts of his delicate frame falling into serious disrepair. Special mention should be made to the clown that engraved the trophy as the East of Scotland 3rd XIV Tournament – fairy!
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A moment to mention from a home team point of view was the sight of public school, university educated, slowest stand off in town, James Macdougall collecting a rugby ball from the cricket square. Aware that walking to pick up the ball would leave stud marks, the toughest tackling number 10 chose to roll lengthwise to the ball as a successful yet ridiculous looking method.
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All in all a great afternoon with Melrose proving to be well deserved winners but clearly the most memorable aspect was the three stunning tries scored by the Watsonian hooker who I believe was me. I will be available at the club dinner to talk anyone through the scores.
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DS
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watsoniansrugby.com
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Published: 14/4/08
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