Under-16s make progress during tough tests at north Wales rugby festival

Many of our aspiring under-16 players were given exposure to top quality rugby in last week’s festival held in north Wales where Scotland entered three teams with colour nominations of Red (Edinburgh and Borders), Blue (Glasgow and Caledonia) and Greens (Exiles) to play against the best of the Welsh regions. In the event Reds lost 14-40 to a very strong Ospreys side and then went down 14-38 to Cardiff. But in their final match the Reds achieved a massive victory over Rygbi Gogledd Cymru, the regional representative team for north Wales, winning 67-0. “We made huge progress throughout the week.” said Reds head coach, Stuart Edwards.

Scotland’s other home-based side, the Blues, lost 28-47 to Scarlets, then 26-38 to Dragons, before fighting hard for a 49-43 win against the Scotland Greens.

A group of 30 players will be selected from the Reds and Blues teams to take part in a training camp in Spain in July.

Meanwhile Perthshire Rugby provided a scenic setting for the Caledonia under-15 to under-18 final for both boys and girls at the North Inch. For the host club, there was a share of the spoils, Perthshire winning the under-15 boys’ cup with a 45-38 victory over Dunfermline, in what was undeniably the match of the day, and also taking the honours in the final of the under-16 boys’ shield by defeating Deeside/ Garioch 45-15 in the final.

Stirling County also flourished, winning the boys’ under-18 cup beating Highland 17-3, the girls’ under-15 cup with a 64-31 win over Caithness and the boys’ under-15 shield by defeating Ellon 50-0.

Howe of Fife/madras won the boys’ under-16 cup with a 29-12 win over Mackie, and Caithness scooped the girls’ under-18 cup by beating Stirling County 41-24.

At Dalziel, Boroughmuir completed a highly-successful season at under-18 level by winning all three of their matches in the tens competition at the Lanarkshire club, defeating Strathaven (22-5), Dalziel (38-7) and Currie Chieftains (17-7).