Match Reports for games against St. Mary's
Match Reports for Girls' Hockey and Boys' Rugby against St. Mary's, Melrose
Wednesday, 5th November 2025
Girls' Hockey
U11b Team
It was lovely to see all the U11b girls play in matches today. However, they were up against a strong team and took a while to settle into the game. We spent much of the first half of the game watching the St Mary’s girls, rather than move onto the ball and gain possession. St Mary’s scored two quick goals, and despite some excellent defending from Isabella and Cordelia, it wasn’t enough to clear the ball away from the circle, allowing St Mary’s to score two more.
Jemima was able to play the ball forward to Mary and I thought we may just have had a chance in the final few minutes of the first half as Amalia and Mary made a great break with the ball which allowed Annabel to move into the attacking circle. The St Mary’s defenders were quick to reposition and cleared our shot on goal.
The second half saw the girls play with more determination and attacking play. Grace and Isabella paired up well in defence, whilst Heidi fought tirelessly for the ball in mid field. Delphine moved up to play in midfield to support Mary and Amalia and we spent a lot of time in our attacking circle. We only conceded two goals in this half which reflected the improvement from the team.
Well tried today girls, we need to make sure we are going for every tackle and not watching the ball and seeing what the other players are doing. Our next match will be in a couple of weeks against Fettes, so we have plenty of time to work on attacking the ball.
Player of the match - Heidi
3rd Team
Opponents: St Mary’s & Mowden
Time: 14:30 Date: 05/11/25
Venue: St Mary’s
The 3rd Team girls travelled to St Mary’s for a triangular fixture, first taking on Mowden Hall’s 2nd team. It was a competitive, end-to-end match with chances at both ends, but neither side could find a goal and it finished 0–0.
The second game was against a strong St Mary’s side. Belhaven competed well and produced some good passages of play but were beaten 2–0.
With no substitutes across the afternoon, the girls worked extremely hard throughout. Calantha was reliable in goal, making several key saves. Meme, Gabrielle, and Lara defended solidly, making important tackles and clearances. In midfield and attack, Cecily, Victoire and Alice covered huge ground supporting both defence and attack. Cecily carried the ball confidently, Victoire competed strongly in every challenge, and Alice linked play well between the lines.
Mr Brown
Boys' Rugby
1st Team
As you drive over Soutra from East Lothian heading for the Borders you get a sense of what weather will await you for your match. A dense fog and wet road gave a good indication as to the conditions in Melrose. Wet, and drizzly it was, but to everyone's delight a free-flowing and skilful game was on the cards despite the climatic conditions.
St Mary's started the game with intent, quickly pinning Belhaven back and creating the first score after a few minutes. Belhaven came back into the game and attacked well but without advancing too close to St Mary's try line. The first 20 minutes of the match continued in this fashion with a good effort from Belhaven, but not enough to stop strong determined running from a good St Mary's team who ended the half with a commanding lead.
Halftime score: St Mary's 24 – 0 Belhaven
Belhaven heads didn’t drop though. We looked at different ways to attack and achieve success, and new ideas started to prove successful, despite another score from St Mary's. Belhaven attacked the blind side and Geordie sprinted in for an opening score. Buoyed by this success Belhaven went through a succession of phases with many involved to send Geordie in for his second in what was probably the try of the season. To their credit St Mary's killed off any threat of a comeback with a try right at the end to take a competitive for comfortable win.
Fulltime score: St Marys 38 – 14 Belhaven
Coach’s thoughts:
In many ways this was a good performance. When you come up against a good team, success must be judged on performance rather than the result. The attitude remained positive throughout, and the team was able to change tactics to see what would achieve success. A lesser team than Belhaven could have folded and not scored at all and it was with great credit that Belhaven left the pitch with heads high.
Our work-ons from this game are obvious. A more cohesive high-press defence will get better results without the ball. Then with the ball in hand, making sure we are moving forward onto the pass from depth will give the opposition's defence a greater challenge. Overall, a good performance and something the build from.
U9 Team
It is always going to be a good match against St Mary’s. Possibly they have more playing for local clubs, which gives them the edge, but I was really pleased with the Belhaven performance.
We put out two teams – one played a tackle match whilst the other played touch.
Tackle game : Lost 9 - 13
We have only really started working on our tackling game over the past couple of weeks, so this team was made up of those who have played tackle in their clubs or those whom I felt had come on sufficiently to play. We played some great rugby and I was most pleased with their passing away from the tackle to keep the ball moving. We also, on occasion, stayed wide to create some lovely tries. Their inexperience in tackling still showed, though, when we allowed them to run through us, which meant that St. Mary's came away as the winning team.
We have only really started working on our tackling game over the past couple of weeks, so this team was made up of those who have played tackle in their clubs or those whom I felt had come on sufficiently to play. We played some great rugby and I was most pleased with their passing away from the tackle to keep the ball moving. We also, on occasion, stayed wide to create some lovely tries. Their inexperience in tackling still showed, though, when we allowed them to run through us, which meant that St. Mary's came away as the winning team.
Touch game : Lost 8 - 10
I was busy refereeing the tackle game so didn’t see this match, but their coach was impressed with the game. Some lovely tries were created by Belhaven and the boys persevered really well to make it a very close match. We need to make sure we try and stay wide, across the pitch, to prevent them from running around us.
I was busy refereeing the tackle game so didn’t see this match, but their coach was impressed with the game. Some lovely tries were created by Belhaven and the boys persevered really well to make it a very close match. We need to make sure we try and stay wide, across the pitch, to prevent them from running around us.
Overall a pleasing afternoon of rugby!
