Netball

After the frustrating and disrupted year of Netball that we’ve just had due to the pandemic, the turning point came during the week with the welcome return of fixtures. The Senior Netball girls have been training hard since the start of term and were delighted to pull on their new kit and take to the court in a friendly against Albyn School on Thursday. The aim of these games is for the girls to work towards getting match fit for when the Scottish Cup resumes later in the year. Three mixed RGC teams played 3 x 10 minutes games each with everyone thoroughly enjoying putting their skills to the test. More friendly matches are planned for the coming week and will include our younger teams too.

On Saturday we had another packed morning of fixtures both home and away. Rugby welcomed Howe of Fife RFC from Cupar and Angus Colts from Strathmore RFC in Forfar. The girls’ Hockey opponents were High School of Dundee with S3 boys taking on George Heriot’s School in Edinburgh. 

Rugby

P6 coach, Mr Hall, reported a very pleasing display of rugby from both his teams who won against Howe. The boys moved the ball well in attack and exploited the space out wide. P7 had 26 boys representing RGC on Saturday morning with some of our players combining with Howe to make up 4 teams. Across all 3 games we played some exciting, attacking rugby and in parts showed the ability to defend as a team and make low leg tackles.

The S1 match was unfortunately cancelled by Howe so the boys continued with Saturday morning training as did S2B. S2A had a good game. We ran hard and direct, and moved the ball wide very well with some lovely handling to win the match. Meanwhile S3A faced a tough game against a strong Howe team. We struggled to get on the front foot for the first 20 minutes but came back due to our improved defensive structure. We had some well worked tries but failed to maintain the momentum for the whole game, resulting in a win for the visitors.

S4 played some great attacking rugby to win against a very physical Howe team. Coach Mr McKay was very pleased to see how much pressure we put Howe under in defence. The 1st XV also faced a very physical opposing team. The game was tight the whole way through, with us pulling away in the last ten minutes when fatigue set in. This match was a good test for the boys and they were delighted with the win.

2XV played a very good first half against Angus Colts where we established our structure and built a good lead. Fatigue and errors in the second half against a strong Angus side let them back in it with the visitors narrowly winning. All in all this was a great run out and experience against a side that has played a lot more rugby so far this season.

Girls Hockey

P6A gave a solid performance against HS of Dundee with strong passing connections and distribution of the ball wide and high. Energy levels were exceptionally high and the team worked hard in the D to score. A mixed team of P5/P6B played with enthusiasm and energy throughout their game. They were unlucky to lose as they had some excellent attacking opportunities. Sadly Dundee cancelled the two P7 matches so we ran a training session for our players instead.

S1A had a great start, scoring in the first 15 seconds with the second goal coming quite quickly after. Dundee then came into their game and scored in return. The game was tied for a time and the girls thought they had scored a winner but it was disallowed. Dundee then capitalised on some great attacks and the game finished with a win to the visitors. Overall there was some nice hockey on show and good passing combinations, with lots of positives and work ons to take forward into next week. 

S2A had a tough match and just as in the recent S2A game against Morrison’s, the difference between the two sides was Dundee did the basics better. When we did get the ball we kept giving it back to the opposition so that is something to work on. Our girls needed to work harder off the ball but we kept Dundee down to only one goal in each half with some last ditch defending and good goalkeeping. 

S3 played their match away and came up against a strong Dundee side who were soon ahead with play full of simplicity and polish. We had a much improved 2nd half but the team came away with their first defeat, knowing that there is work to be done.

All members of the 3rd XI put in a great amount of effort and displayed high energy levels. We needed to have better options right and left and more composure on the ball especially in the D, but overall it was a great game despite losing to the hosts.

Off the back of two excellent recent performances, the 2nd XI came up against their strongest opposition so far. A little tentativeness and lack of confidence on the ball saw us go a goal down in the first half. The girls pushed hard during the 2nd half but this effort resulted in us tiring and conceding a soft second goal. Sadly this dented our confidence and our performance dropped in the last 10 minutes to give the opposition two more goals to win the match. 

The 1st XI didn’t quite get into their flow in the first half and had work to do to bring themselves back up against a very good Dundee side. The half time team talk resulted in a change of tactical play and the girls were extremely unlucky not to pull some of the deficit back in a strong and controlled second half performance.

Boys Hockey

P5-7 boys enjoyed their first taste of Saturday morning matches with a mix of year groups playing against each other. We have a fantastic group of young, keen players, from those with some experience to total beginners. Their progress has been very pleasing to see this term. 

There were no fixtures for our senior boys this weekend and the sole competitive game was S3 who travelled to Edinburgh to play George Heriot’s School. The S3 boys displayed some great defensive efforts, keeping the home team from scoring until the last few minutes of the first half. The play was back and forth with lots of attacking for both teams. As the game drew to a close, fatigue set in allowing Heriot’s to score a few goals in quick succession. On a highlight, the RGC boys scored their first goal of the season with a break away down the right hand side, cutting in front of defenders to play the ball around the goalie and into the goal.

All scores can be found on our Sport Website.

Team of the Week

Congratulations to the Senior School Ski Race Team who won the award this week. They gave a fantastic team performance with 1st & 2nd overall placings at the recent NSSA Indoor Open in Manchester along with impressive individual performances. Well done everyone!