STEWARTRY U14 BOYS v U14 BOYS

Match Report from Coach Paul O’Donnell

Our U14 boys headed off to Stewartry on Sunday for the return fixture with our local rivals.

Stewartry had a few players missing so were topped up with a few Moffat lads.

Despite a heavy defeat last week our boys were full of confidence and rocked up ready to take it to our opponents.

With conditions a lot more favourable than last week and a perfect playing surface the scene was set for some fast-flowing rugby. However, what ensued wasn’t exactly what the lads had planned.

Stewartry came out of the starting blocks like a freight train and used their strong ball carriers to chalk up a handful of early tries.

Despite the Annan lads defending and tackling bravely it looked like it could be a hard day at the office. To make matters worse we suffered some early injuries to Archie Nicholson, Ciaran Cannon and Leo Dinnin who were unable to continue after less than 15 minutes play. Unfortunately, we got the news later that day that Archie has broken his wrist! Wishing all 3 lads a speedy recovery.

So after the initial 20 minutes of play, and in the true spirit of rugby the coaches decided to mix the teams and have a competitive development game. Lads swapped shirts, friends became foes, teammates became opposition and a re-shaped game was commenced.

Over the next 40 minutes the lads treated the home and away supporters to a great display of competitive, free flowing and entertaining rugby. There were big tackles, well worked tries and a few outrageous dummy’s and side steps thrown in for good measure. The boys put aside their club allegiances and just enjoyed being on the field playing some very impressive rugby.

In the forwards our young guns Connor Adam and Jamie Graves had outstanding performances and continue to improve and grow in confidence.

In the backs, our wingers had great games – Rey Yapabandara was impressive with ball in hand, Blake Wield put in a great defensive effort (particularly when he came up against his older brother Mason! ) and Charlie Vivers notched up his first score of the season with a well worked try.

Man of the match this week for Annan goes to Max Lupton for his offensive effort that culminated in a great individual try, scored from 60 meters out.

A big thank you to the Stewartry and Moffat coaches and players for their flexible approach to the game. I was enjoying the game so much I didn’t even keep score, so on this occasion let’s just say Rugby was the winner.