Rugby

The senior rugby squad travelled to Hutcheson’s Grammar on Wednesday to compete in their 7s tournament. The boys played some fantastic rugby towards the latter stages of the pool competition, but lacked accuracy in the initial games resulting in a couple of losses. All the boys represented the College well and look forward to travelling to Lathallan 7s in the weeks to come.

On Saturday we played matches against The High School of Dundee, Ellon and Deeside. The U16A/S3A team won their fixture against Ellon, playing some good attacking rugby in the first half where Ellon struggled with our defensive pressure. The visitors came back into the game more in the second half by RGC giving away too many penalties.

S2A/B lost to Ellon in a match where we scored three good tries and played well in attack, but needed to be more consistent with our tackling. The S2B/A team lost against a strong Dundee High team who just played a little more direct than we did. Two good scores were followed by inconsistent defence and ball handling errors. 

S1B/A won against Dundee High with the RGC boys dominating in the first half and playing some really good attacking rugby with lots and depth and width. The second half was much closer, especially in the last 10 minutes. S1A played a round robin with Ellon and Mackie in which we had two really good games. Despite starting slow, RGC took control in the latter stages but just couldn’t claw their way back in time, resulting in the opposition winning both matches.

 

Girls’ Hockey

The 1st XI travelled the length of Scotland to play their Scottish Plate quarter final game in the Borders against Selkirk High School on Tuesday. They played some excellent hockey and secured a convincing win to take them through to the semi final. Given the proximity of their next opponents, Earlston High School, this fixture was played at the same venue after a short break. The first 10 minutes was fraught, with RGC soaking up tremendous amounts of pressure. However the girls suddenly broke to the other end and Sophie H managed to sneak the ball in from a ludicrous angle. A second goal from Eilidh S right on half time put the northerners up 2-0. Wave after wave of RGC attacks soon broke the Borderers will and Hannah L went on to score a hat trick. It looked easy but both games tested the girls and they responded well to everything that was put in front of them. Next stop is the final at Glasgow National Hockey Centre this Friday, 13th March against The Glasgow Academy. We wish the girls the best of luck.

The S3A team played the semi final of their Scottish Plate competition on Tuesday also against opponents Selkirk High School. Sadly the outcome was not so happy and despite playing some of their best hockey of the year, RGC lost the match by 1 goal. We went 1-0 down early in the second half and responded with a lovely goal from Anna W. Selkirk then scored a break away with 5 minutes to go and we were inches away from the equaliser. Miss Howie was so disappointed for the girls as she felt they truly deserved the win after their excellent performance. They can hold their heads high after progressing so far in the competition. 

Our girls’ hockey teams faced strong opposition on Saturday against George Waton’s College. The 1st XI match was fast and furious with Toni D breaking through and scoring a fantastic goal. Watson's scored shortly afterwards with RGC going on to dominate the second half with a better performance. In the last minute, Watson’s replied with a cracking goal to win the match. Captain Katy Mc was our Player of the Match.

The 2nd XI gave a super performance from a full squad that dominated for the majority of the game. This was reflected in the girls going 3 goals up, only to suffer 2 quick counters from the home side making the last 5 minutes fairly fraught. RGC managed to hold on to win the match.

S3A lost to George Watson’s, playing a much better second half than first. The girls deserved a goal for the second half play but just missed out on the back post. Player of Match was Sophie L for her play at Centre Midfield, showing great ball control and distribution. S3B also lost their match.

S2A were delighted with their win, scoring through Kate D in the first half in which RGC was the better side. Our opponents played better in the second half with 2 one-on-ones with our goalie Sophie P who made some great saves and kicks to keep us in the game. We had the better opportunities but couldn’t increase our margin of victory. Anna W was our Player of the Match. The S2B game was a game of two halves. We had the best opportunities in the first half and should have scored a few goals. Unfortunately we didn’t and our opponents were far better organised in the second half and dominated. After defending several penalty corners we eventually conceded. Jefline J our Captain lead by example and was our Player of the Match. The girls gave 100% on the day so this was a disappointing end to our season.

The S1A/B mixed team played two games back to back against George Watson’s. Despite finishing with 2 loses the girls worked extremely hard, especially in defence. They had many chances at goal and were very unlucky. Miss Stephen commented that this was a great last match of the season for the S1s and she is very proud of them.

The P7 Team had a great morning at the George Watson’s Primary Tournament played at Peffermill in Edinburgh. After a slow start, the girls managed to make it through to the Medal Final and started to play some lovely hockey by the end of the day. They were in a very tough Group that included the two teams that eventually made the Grand Final. We lost a little confidence but this was lifted after a very spirited win against Strathallan and a draw against George Heriots. Special mention must go to Jezzie K for a couple of excellent goals and Sophia J for some incredible skills. Player of the day was Katie S in goals who was excellent from game one to the last. 

 

Boys’ Hockey

All 3 of our boys teams travelled to Gordonstoun to play their matches on Saturday. The 1st XI gave an outstanding performance, with the boys showing some real grit to come back from a goal down to win the match. Over the course of the whole game we played some fantastic hockey, controlling the tempo and pace of the game. Our finishing wasn’t quite up to scratch but a penalty corner rebound from Tommaso G in the first half kept the scores level. The winning goal came from Craig D midway through the second half after some sustained pressure.

The U15 side was out-powered in the first half by a physical side who capitalised on some mistakes in our defence. The boys battled back well in the second half to show a much improved level of performance and keep the game competitive but Gordonstoun managed to keep up the pressure to win the match. 

There were many positives in the U14 match against a strong, combative Gordonstoun side. Under early pressure, we slowly eased into the game despite losing an early goal. The midfield gelled well providing numerous opportunities for the strike force up front who unfortunately could not capitalise on this. The game ended in a narrow defeat for RGC but the match allowed 3 boys to make their debut which has to be good for the future. The boys stuck to their task well playing some neat, skilful hockey but will need to work on their decision making in key areas of the pitch.

 

Netball

The Scottish Cup run sadly came to an end for S3 on Monday in an extremely competitive and closely fought semi-final against a very tall Monifieth High School team. Persistent pressure took its toll in Q4 resulting in a loss for RGC. Player of the Match went to Jasmine for her sheer determination to defend her player out of the game and gain possession of the ball for delivery to  our shooters. The girls kept their best play for the semi-final and never gave up. Miss Ellis is very proud of their efforts.

 

Skiing

Congratulations to the Junior School Ski team who won 1st place the SSSA Primary School National Alpine Finals at Glenshee on Wednesday. This was a great team effort with some excellent individual performances from Louisa who was 1st in the girls’ race and Blair who was 2nd in the boys’ race.

Well done also to our Senior School Sk team who finished 4th at the SSSA Senior School National Alpine Finals on Thursday. There were some great individual performances from Michael M who finished 2nd in the boys’ race and Daisy C who finished 4th in the girls’ race.

 

Team of the Week 

Girls 1st XI Hockey who played their quarter and semi-final matches in one day after a long journey to the Borders. Good luck to the girls in the Senior Girls Plate Final on Friday against The Glasgow Academy.