1ST XV ON HOST ARDROSSAN ON SATURDAY

STOP PRESS: The lads win 66-10.  Lovely!

Tries from Aaron Carmichael (3), James Kirby (2), Ryan Glass, Michael Thompson, Neal Coupland, AJ, Murdo Bruton, Jonny C and 4 conversions and 1 penalty from Josh

The 1st XV welcome Ardrossan to Violetbank on Saturday for only the 3rd time. In fact the 1st XV’s have only met on 5 occasions, the last time being back in 2006. The 2nd XV’s teams have met on numerous times over the years though.

The only current 1st XV player who played in the 2005/06 season was Kieron Watret but Kieron was not in the team that last faced Ardrossan. For the record, Kieron has been playing off and on for the 1st XV since 1995!

Just as well as the 1st XV have never beaten Ardrossan 1st XV in those 5 attempts with a 10-10 draw the best Annan result back in 2005.

Ardrossan are in a rebuilding phase after being relegated to West 1 after 5 years in National 3 and a couple of years in National 2.

They, like Annan, are having a tough start to the season and currently lie in 9th spot with 4 defeats from 4. Annan are 1 win from 4 but Annan are currently on a 3 match losing streak.

So both teams will be wanting to stop the rot and get back to winning ways.

For Annan, the problem has been the 1st XV starting 15 has been changing from week to week for various reasons. So far Coach Carmichael has had to select 28 players in just 5 matches. This week will be no expectation as a number of players are off on a stag do.

With Stewartry looking like runaway leaders of West 1 and with Annan facing them the following Saturday, the Annan lads will be wanting to get a win under their belt and get a bit of confidence before they travel to the Greenlaw, which on current form is looking like a tough tough game for Annan.

Should be a great match though between Annan and Ardrossan as both teams try and put some space between them and the relegation spots. Or if you are being more optimistic, start the unbeaten run that leads to promotion!

Kick off is 3pm.

THE 2ND XV ON THE ROAD ONCE AGAIN

The 12 team West Reserve 3 Division is unfortunately already at the stage where the majority of matches are called off due to lack of player numbers for certain teams. Only 6 of the scheduled 18 matches have taken place and some of Saturdays 6 matches will no doubt suffer the same fate.

Luckily Dalziel are also one of the teams in the league who still manage to get a 2nd string out so this is little chance of this tie not going ahead.

2nd Team Coach Logan Johnstone is doing a lot of work behind the scenes and quite a number of players this season are making their 2nd XV debuts and in some cases, rugby debuts.

The teams met last met just before the 2020 shutdown of the league, with Dalziel winning 28-7 at Dalziel Park. Annan won the home tie earlier on in the same season.

For Annan, it’s been 3 defeats from 3, but with the new players coming in its all a learning curve just now and the results will come.

THE WARRIORS HOST WIGTOWNSHIRE LADIES

The Warriors welcome Wigtownshire Ladies to Violetbank on Sunday. The last match of a day of rugby at Violetbank with 3 youth teams also in action.

This season in West 1 was all about gaining experience for the Warriors players, the majority who still have that 5 games or less under their belts.

Last week of the 16 who played against Greenock Wanderers, only 4 players would be classed as experienced with 170 matches between them.  The 12 other players have combined total of just 71 matches. Or less than 6 each.

So every match is a learning experience just now for the Warriors and although heavily beaten in the last 2 matches, the players showed a lot of rugby skill with just the last phase of play/the old missed tackle letting them down.

As for Sundays opponents Wigtownshire Ladies, the teams have only met once for a 12 a-side friendly back in 2021. 104 points where shared between the teams that day. Sundays match might not be quite as high scoring but there will be tries and some great rugby on show.