THIS WEEK AT ANNAN RUGBY

FOR WEEK BEGINNING 5TH DECEMBER

THIS WEEK AT ANNAN RUGBY

Walking Rugby and S1-S6 Strength and Conditioning Training continues on Monday.

On Thursday – it’s the Xmas Fayre at Bank Street while on Sunday it’s the P1-P3 and P4-P7 Xmas parties – also at Bank Street.

For Training – the usual times bar:

P1-P7 training has been moved to Sunday;
U18 Boys/Annan Men only training on Thursday;
U14 Girls will train at Violetbank on Wednesday. Time TBC;
U18 Girls/Women train only on Tuesday this week in the Gym.

New players of any or no experience always wanted and welcome.

See https://annanrugby.com/our-teams/ for more info.

At the weekend we have 5 squads in action.

On Saturday the 1st XV and even the 2nd XV are at home

On Sunday the U16 Boys are at home while the Warriors and U14 Girls are on the road.

1ST XV HOST CAMBUSLANG

STOP PRESS: Match OFF. Violetbank pitches are frozen solid

After last week’s disappointing loss to Carrick, the 1st XV will be wanting to end 2022 on a high as they entertain Cambuslang.

Like Annan, Cambuslang have been struggling in recent weeks and have suffered a number of heavy defeats. Cambuslang are currently sitting 4 points above Annan on 22 points and a win for Annan on Saturday would probably move Annan above Cambuslang,

Cambuslang have recently appointed a new head Coach – Mark Senter – and Mark will be wanting Cambuslang to get back to the sort of form they had at the start of the season.

The teams met earlier on in the season and Cambuslang comprehensively defeated Annan. However at Violetbank, Annan have a great record against the Glasgow club and have won the last 7 meetings going back to 2008 – the last one being in April of this year with the black and amber running out 69-24 winners.

For Annan, any promotion shot is long gone but they will still need a few more wins under their belt to ensure West 1 rugby for next season.

Should be an interesting encounter.

Kick off: 2pm

Starting XV: TBC

Subs: TBC

2ND XV ARE FINALLY AT HOME

STOP PRESS: Match OFF. Violetbank pitches are frozen solid

2022 has not been a great year for the 2nd XV with the lack of home matches, matches being called off, teams unwilling to travel to Violetbank and facing enhanced “2nd XV” opposition. However on Saturday the 2nd XV will finally get another home match against Kilmarnock 2nd XV. A team always willing to travel and a true 2nd XV team.

It will be a tough match though as Kilmarnock are undefeated so far this season with 5 wins from 5 (with 4 more walkover wins) and the East Ayrshire team will be wanting to keep their march to the title going on Saturday. A win would put them top.

For the Annan 2nd XV it will be only their 3rd home match of 2022 (with 8 matches on the road) and only their 2nd home match of the 2022/23 season.

Its also a big match for the 2nd XV as a win would probably secure 5th spot and they would be in the top of the table before the league splits (assuming that’s still happening).

The top half would most likely see 4-5 more league matches being played this season with a number at home. While a bottom half finish, based on the other teams fulfillment of matches so far, would reduce the chances of the same number of league games being played especially at Violetbank!

So all to play for on Saturday for both teams and 2nd XV Coach/Team Manager Logan Johnstone is hopeful that Annan can put out one of the stronger Annan 2nd XV teams for this season

Kick off: 2pm

Starting XV: TBC

Subs: TBC

WARRIORS ON THE ROAD TO WIGTOWNSHIRE

STOP PRESS: The Warriors go down 73-34 – Match Report Now online

The Annan Warriors have their last match of the 2022/23 league season as they travel to Stranraer to face Wigtownshire Ladies.

Its been a mixed season for the Warriors with some great wins but also some big defeats. One such defeat being the home match between the 2 teams when Wigtownshire ran out convincing winners.

This season was always about rebuilding for the Warriors though and they debuted a large number of new players and with 10 players making their Warrior (and even rugby playing) debuts this season, it’s been a great success.

The Warriors will be wanting to end the league season on a win though but will need to be on the top of their game against the high scoring Wigtownshire Ladies.

Kick off 2pm

Starting XV: TBC

Subs: TBC

U16 BOYS AND U14 GIRLS IN ACTION

STOP PRESS: The U16 Boys match was cancelled but the U14 Girls win a great match 31 tries to 20! – Match Report Now Online

There are 2 other teams in action this Sunday as the U16 Boys an the U14 Girls are in rugby action.

The U16 Boys are at Violetbank as they host Hamilton U16 Boys. 2pm KO

The U16 Boys have been improving all season and will be wanting to end 2022 with a winning performance at Violetbank

While the U14 Girls are off to Stranraer to face Wigtownshire U14 Girls. TBC KO

The U14 Girls are without doubt the 2nd best team in the club (behind the mighty P1-P3 Tigers – who else!), and will be wanting to continue their fine 2022 winning form on Sunday

Best of luck to all the teams this weekend.