Sport Update: Week ending 12 December

Netball

We had a really busy and exciting week of Netball fixtures, starting with S1, S2 and S3 who travelled to Gordonstoun for their Scottish Cup matches on Monday. There was some fantastic play from the girls and all three teams were delighted to win their matches. Later on that day our 1st VII faced Albyn A, alway tough opponents, in their Scottish Cup match. The girls had to work very hard and Mrs Hardie was delighted with the team performance which ended in a win for RGC. She named Emily W as Player of the Match who was exceptional in defence and Albyn named Francesca D, fast in attack, as their pick from the RGC team.

The 1st VII had no time to rest as it was another tough fixture for them on Wednesday vs Aberdeen Grammar. Grammar has district and club players in their team so the girls knew this wasn’t going to be easy. RGC were up by five goals at one point in the match but in the end Grammar won by a few goals. The girls can be very proud of how they played. All 12 players had time on the court and we are lucky to have so many girls playing at this level of Netball at RGC.

S1 enjoyed a second successive Scottish Cup win on Thursday, this time against Albyn. The girls were full of confidence after their first Cup win on Monday, and they came onto the court with one thing on their mind - to win! Donning their new dresses, they played some smart and quality netball. Coach Miss Duddy reported that it was a joy to see skills they had been working on at training being applied in match play and she was so proud of them. Player of the Match was Emma D.

Rugby

On Monday S3 Rugby welcomed Aberdeen Grammar to Countesswells. It was great to have this match as part of the S3 Sport afternoon and well done to all the boys on a great match. Grammar returned to Countesswells on Friday afternoon where our S2B won against a combined S1/S2 team of visitors. There was some good attacking rugby in the first 20 minutes and some very good defence in the last 20 minutes which helped RGC dominate.

On Saturday morning our Primary along with U16 and 1st XV teams made the journey south to play against Edinburgh Academy. P7 played in two tough matches but learned a lot from the experience and their tackling improved during the game. Ultimately, Edinburgh Academy were more accurate with their passing and won both matches. Great hosting and definitely a worthwhile trip to make.

In the U16 match, Edinburgh Academy had the better of the exchanges in the first half as RGC struggled to get to grips with the breakdown. However, in the second half the players fixed the issues with stronger ball carries and increased physicality in the rucks. The defence again was top drawer as we swarmed any attack from the hosts. Mr McKay was very proud of the boy’s response in the second half, it was a performance full of character and a well-earned win. 

The 1st XV met a physical and clinical Edinburgh Academy and after an error-stricken first half, RGC went into the half trailing by five points despite tries from Ross B and Andrew M. The second half saw the hosts counter fiercely and we conceded two well deserved tries. RGC were down by 12 points with 10 minutes of the match to go and then from nowhere, the gear change happened with class scores from Sami B and Andrew M following very physical and prolonged carries from a determined forwards pack. Andrew was ready to kick the winning conversion and the team were delighted to see it sail through the posts to claim the win by two points. Coach Mr Greenwood was very proud of the way the boys played and despite the early errors, he said it was easily their best performance yet.

Visit from Judy Murray

There was great excitement at Countesswells on Thursday afternoon when Judy Murray came to speak to our Sports Leaders about all things sport; performance, participation, experiences and coaching tips. This took place ahead of the Battle of the Brits tennis event which will be held in Aberdeen on 21 and 22 December. Read all about Judy’s visit here.

Team of the Week

This was a tough decision to make as there had been so many great performances from our sport teams this week. The winners are 1st XV Rugby after the way they turned around their game against Edinburgh Academy. After a tough first half the second half started poorly with RGC conceding twice. However once cornered, the boys showed some real fight to come back to level to level the game 31-31 in the last play of the game. With Andrew M adding two points from the conversion, it ended 33-31 to RGC. Second half tries from Sami B, Andrew M and Ross B.

For a full breakdown of this week’s results, please click here.

Sporting Achievements Outside School

Congratulations to two of our pupils who have received awards from Aberdeen Football Club this month: Cayden Mc (S1) with the The U13s Neale Cooper Award and Finn Mc (P6) with the Amplus Young Talent of the Month award for November. Well done boys on this acknowledgment of your performances.