Awards for Mid Argyll’s stand-out rugby players
Mid Argyll rugby players were well represented at Oban Lorne RFC’s awards night held at the Glencruitten club house on Saturday May 14.
The event was attended by more than 50 players and coaches, with special guest speaker Graham Tweed, who has recently moved to the Mid Argyll area, and who spoke about his career playing with Saracens RFC and coaching the USA team at the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
Mid Argyll had seven players in this season’s under-16 and under-14 teams.
In the under-16 section two awards were won by Mid Argyll players, with five Mid Argyll players helping the Oban team win their west development league. The team then played in a close defeat in the west youth shield semi final.
James Campbell won the award for Top Points Scorer with more than 100 points racked up from tries, conversions and penalties.
It was an impressive tally considering James spent the last four months of the season side-lined with a dislocated shoulder.
James went on to be selected for the regional Glasgow and West representative team playing against Edinburgh, but a recurrence of the shoulder injury in that game has unfortunately hampered his progress this year and he is now looking forward to picking up where he left off prior to the injury for next year’s under-18 team.
Murray MacDonald then picked up the Player of the Season award. Murray has been in outstanding form this season, consistently playing to a very high standard.
He has carried that form through to the regional Glasgow and West academy where he has established himself in the team playing against Edinburgh, Borders, Caledonia and Newcastle Falcons. Murray scored a fantastic try in Glasgow’s win over Edinburgh, securing a first win in the fixture for Glasgow for some years.
Also on Saturday May 14 three Mid Argyll rugby players travelled to Islay to play in the inaugural Jura Dalriada touch competition. This event was for older players, and local police sergeant Ben Rusden spearheaded the Mid Argyll contingent.
Ben said: ‘It was great fun with great hospitality and it was good to be back playing and being involved in rugby again.’
Mid Argyll will soon be starting touch rugby sessions for any age group from age 12 up to 70-plus. Interested players should check Mid Argyll Rugby’s Facebook page for details.