Match Reports: Rugby and Hockey against St. Mary's: IAPS Hockey Trials

Boys' Rugby

1st

On another sunny day at Belhaven, St. Mary's were the opposition posing a challenge to the Belhaven Squad. Our squad were feeling confident after their victory over Mowden and were raring to go. They started well by retaining the ball before Harry Br made a typically strong run down the wing for the opening score.

There followed a difficult ten minutes during which both teams seemed content to drop the ball when they were building attacks. Nevertheless, it took an adept bit of scanning for Fin to intercept the ball from a St. Mary's attack and go in under the posts to extend the lead.

The third for Belhaven was very different with some intricate handling skills setting up Beetle with 8 metres to the line. He drove hard and was latched on to by William and the combined power took him over the line for a fine team score.

Half time score: Belhaven 17 - 0 St. Mary's

Having spoken to the team at half time about sticking to our structure more effectively, Belhaven slowly built a better structure in the second half. Jamie opened the scoring with a fine solo run. Harry Br got his second with a similarly long-distance effort to take Belhaven away from St. Mary's completely.

Archie, coming on as a sub scored a fine dancing try in the corner, followed by Ted getting his first of the day with a strong run. Fin grabbed his second try of the match and Ted quickly followed this up with his second as well, both coming from fine solo runs. To their credit, St. Mary's did not give up and finished the match with a well-worked score of their own under the posts.

Final Score: Belhaven 53 - 7 St. Mary's

Player of the match: Laurie

Coach’s thoughts: In a bizarre way, this was not as complete a performance as the victory over Mowden in our previous fixture. The team did not look after possession as effectively and did not have to fight for the victory. It does, however, represent progress in some important ways. The team clearly understands the structure that they are using and they are now feeling far more confident to express themselves within it. This is evident in the number and nature of the tries that they scored. The defensive structure is effective and was probably the most pleasing aspect, with Campbell, Laurie, and Johnny leading the effort. The team now marches on with two wins from four matches. There is no reason these wins cannot keep coming if we continue to build on our work and continue to seek the complete performance.

U11A

There was much excitement in the build-up to this match as St. Mary’s had proved to be our toughest opponent in the two recent 7s tournaments. The previous matches had been incredibly close contests, with expansive, entertaining rugby produced by both teams.

Following on from a competitively charged 7s tournament at the weekend, this proved to be a somewhat calmer affair, with both sets of parents applauding good rugby from all players.

As the sun was shining and the Eildon Hills watched over proceedings St. Mary’s started the game strongly by attacking the Belhaven line at pace. Though under pressure from multi-phase play, the Belhaven defence held strong. There were some outstanding tackles throughout the day, but the try saving tackle from Geordie, pushing his opponent back 3 meters, was particularly impressive.

The pressure eventually eased and Belhaven were able to take their chances on the attack. A well worked team try saw Ollie get the first score, with another followed up from Charlie. Hamish and Harry made many metres with strong powerful running. And Hector, as ever, was omnipresent. Rollo intercepted perfectly a lofted pass taking the lead to 3-0, before Charlie scored again to make it 4-1 at the break.

Exhaustion certainly kicked in during the second half, as did try line fever. There was a little too much of running with the ball under the arm rather than looking to pass it on to others in space - which the boys had done so well in the first half. Wilbur showed a bit of flare with a lovely kick and chase to reclaim his own ball, which led to Charlie scoring his hat-trick. He later scored a fantastic individual try for his fourth.

It really was a solid team performance, with everybody playing their role. A fantastic win against a very good team, of which the boys should be very proud.

Result: Belhaven 6 – 3 St. Mary’s

Tries : Ollie, Rollo, Charlie (4)

Man of the Match : Charlie

U11B

Today the mighty under 11B’s took a trip to St. Mary’s where the weather was perfect sunshine and a gentle breeze. After a noisy hour on the coach we arrived at St. Mary’s and after a quick warm up we got straight into the action.

St. Mary’s were one player short so we had to lend a player to them, many thanks for those boys from the Belhaven team for stepping in.

We made a strong start going 2-0 up early with 2 good tries from Arthur. St. Mary’s then fought back to get it back level. Some good tackling from both sides slowed the game down a bit, Tristan and Noah leading from the front for Belhaven in that department. Arthur then scored another strong try by bursting through the St. Mary’s' defence. Noah finished off the first half to make it 4-2.

After a quick half time team talk we got straight back into it. Throughout the second half we had much better structure in defence and were able to restrict St. Mary’s to only scoring 1 try in the second half. Tommy scored his second try of the game and Arthur scored his 4th.

Jack and Bertie then made an impact by scoring their first tries of the game. Fergus and Kasper were getting stuck into the defence.

Well done boys, a great effort. A lot to take away from the fixture.

Mr Brown

Final Score: Belhaven Hill 9 – 3 St. Mary’s

Player of the Match: Arthur for his spectacular 4 tries.

U9

It was a beautiful day in Melrose and the U9s arrived undefeated for the season. We played 7-a-side with 3 rolling subs on a good sized pitch. St Mary’s were very good at keeping their width, which meant that our faster players were unable to run around the edges, which the boys found frustrating!

They worked tirelessly, particularly Ben, who kept causing them problems, but, because we were too narrow, St. Mary’s were able to score too many tries. Xander eventually managed to score some tries as the opposition tired slightly but they were very good at making quicker passes after being touched so that we were not ready in defence.

Going down 4-8 provided a very good lesson in the need for us to maintain our width and also to pass the ball quicker to supporting runners. Something to work towards before the match against Fettes next week.

Girls' Hockey

U13 IAPS Tournament Trials

2nd

Today the 2nd girls hosted a capable St. Mary’s team at Hallhill. Though we were missing two of our stalwarts who’d received their call-up to the 1sts, we did have Bea join us as some consolation.

The first half was a bit frantic, if I am honest. We were playing with three at the back, two in the middle and two up front, hoping to find some attacking space but unfortunately that didn’t quite work out. The girls certainly ran a lot and showed great enthusiasm but they didn’t really think or hold their positions and most of the running was chasing after the ball like a bunch of excited spaniels.

At half time, the girls were puffed and three goals down. We had a chat about holding positions, moving more effectively and then also changed our structure a bit, dragging a striker back to bolster the midfield and this certainly seemed to work.

In the second half, our structure held up much better, we managed to get the ball a bit wider and players got into some good areas. St. Mary’s did score another goal but we also clawed one back when Bea slotted a fine shot past their ‘keeper.

So, the match was lost but the second half drawn and the girls improved as it went on.

Final Score: Belhaven Hill 1 - 4 St. Mary’s

Player of the Match: Victoire – she never stopped running and in the second half spent more time running in the right directions.

U11

On Wednesday the Under 11 girls travelled down to Tweedbank Astro for our first fixture since after half term. We had two matches to play today – one against St Mary’s Under 11s and the other against the Under 10s. Belhaven had a good warm up and from the first few minutes of the game the girls showed determination and skill. Wendy and Iris passed the ball beautifully out to the wings and there were some speedy drives towards the D. Unfortunately, we could not get past their super goalie.

I was really impressed to see strong tackles and the Belhaven girls managed to win the ball back on most occasions. We used the space well and in the second half we came very close to scoring a goal but, alas, it was not to be. It was great to see Maggie and Emily practise crossing the ball on the reverse and Ottilie and Daisy using the dodges we have been working on in practice.
The final score against the Under 11s came to 0 – 0.

After a quick refreshment of some oranges, the girls were back out and ready for the next game. In this game there were a few close shaves when the St Mary’s broke through the defence. Willow saved a number of goals and it was even more impressive that she cleared the balls out wide instead of up the middle. India and Bella worked superbly together, making sure that there were no free players in the D. St Mary’s played a quick ball down the left side and managed to score the first goal. The girls did not let this affect them and they quickly ran back to start play again. Maggie passed the ball up to Ottilie and she dodged round the defender and swept the ball into the goal.
We finished the game at a 1 - 1 draw.

A super day of hockey and the girls should be very proud of how they played and having the confidence to try new skills.

U9

The team was so excited to be having a hockey match again after a short break, and even more excited that it was an away fixture! All of Form 5 and 6 girls ventured off towards Melrose, and after some singing in the bus, we arrived ready to play. In order to allow all the girls to get as much hockey as possible, we made two even teams to play against our opposition

Sophia captained the first match and we got off to a good start. Holly and Anastasia worked well to drive the ball forwards and were able to move around the St Mary’s defence well. A good ball forwards from Isabella saw Sophia pass the ball onto Holly to score the first goal. St Mary’s tried hard to get the ball into their attacking circle but Isobel and Chloe were ready waiting to clear anything that came their way. Another strong pass from defence saw Sophia with the ball in the circle and ready to score the next goal. Meme and Mary made some good tackles in the mid field, whilst Isabella kept back to help stop balls reaching the St Mary’s goal. Again, a strong pass and good teamwork saw Sophia back in the circle to score a third goal for the team. St Mary’s we’re still fighting strong and caught us a little off guard to score their first goal of the match. With the play very even, we tried to get the ball to go wide to dodge around the opposition. We have some wide shots at goal and St Mary’s managed a second goal just before the final whistle. The first game ended Belhaven 3 - 2 St Mary’s

A quick break and a switch of players saw our second team take to the field. St Mary’s won the game of ‘Rock Paper Scissors’ and elected to start with the ball. This was a really even match with the ball flowing from one goal to the other. Holly and Anastasia were again up in attack, whilst Lara and Isabella made some great stops in the defensive circle. St Mary’s were quick to score the first goal in this match, which made the Belhaven girls fight back. Clara made some super tackles in mid field passing the ball along to Sylvia. Some good teamwork in the attacking half allowed the ball back with Sophia and into the goal again.

Play continued from end to end and Flora was quick to be ready on her marker at every free hit, stopping the ball when it came near. Another goal from St Mary’s took them into the lead and so the Belhaven team soon equalised with another shot on goal. Some very good defensive work from Isabella kept St Mary’s out of their circle and an amazing stop just in front of the goal from Lara, made sure the game ended a draw. Belhaven 2 – 2 St Mary’s

Well done girls – some great hockey today