Rugby awards and other rugby stuff.

This is it........the last rugby news till the new season starts in August!

Ronan and his team mates went off on tour (as indicated in my last post) on Friday 15th May. We all headed up to Stonehaven for an overnight stay in the local scout hut....well the kids and coaches did, the parents stayed in local Bed and Breakfast establishments and I stayed with my parents and spent some quality time with them. The team we were visiting was my "old" school team - Mackie Academy FP. They promised us a BBQ on our arrival, unfortunately due to it pouring down with rain this did not happen as planned. However the boys all seemed to have a ball. Both teams mixed together and they spent several hours playing games and running various relay type races in the hall. As far as I can gather, very little sleep was had by all! Then they all had to be up bright and early as we had to be ready to leave the hall at 9am to get to the pitches and be ready to play at 10. However the best laid plans and all that....it didn't quite work out that way!!! Once again it was pouring down and playing rugby in the rain was not very high on the boys agenda. However we live in Scotland so we should be used to it!!! The boys buckled down and played their hearts out, coming out eventual winners, 28 points to 15. It was a very hard fought match which took alot out of the boys on both teams. They had an other game scheduled, which would have been great had the weather been nice, however it was still teaming down. Mackie and Musselburgh pulled their players to become Mackieburgh and took on Deeside, who just happened to be playing several older boys, who had not played an hour of hard rugby prior to this game!!! They managed to beat Mackieburgh 9 tries to 3. A very weary and wet bunch of kids headed back down the road to sunny Musselburgh. We are now looking forward to Mackie coming down on tour to us next May!

On my return home, I had a quick turn around as I had to be at Robert's rugby presentation night. Not only that, but I also had to prepare a slide show of photos taken over the season by various people. I did manage to get there in plenty of time to set everything up. The evening was once again a great success.

Robert came home with the Primary 6 "Player of the Year" award, which is a great achievement since he is playing up a year! I was so proud of him, that I must admit I had to wipe away a few tears!! (Mothers privilege!)

The following day saw Robert and his team mates play in a tournament held by Portobello Rugby Club. Unfortunately Robert got injured and only played 2 games. However he did manage to score a couple of tries before his head accidentally came into contact with an opposition players boot.

Here he is feeling rather sorry for his-self. He did have the right to, as the "egg" on the side of his eye was scarily large! He was seen by a medic and deemed to be OK! Over the next few days he begun to sport some very "seventies" colours of "eye shadow"!!!!!!

Friday (29th) saw an other rugby award night, this time it was Ronan's turn. They do things a bit more civilised than the younger section. We had a very nice meal prior to the speeches and presentations. Once again gg was wiping away a tear or two, as Ronan was given an award.

Here he is getting his award from Euan, one of his coaches. He is extremely pleased with his award and it is sitting "pride of place" on top of the TV along side Robert's one.

It was such a lovely day on Saturday that I took a photo of them both out at the back of the house with their awards.


We watched our last "live" senior rugby games of the season at Murrayfield over the weekend. It was the last IRB 7s tournament of 2008-2009. The weather was glorious, so the summer gear and suntan lotion was brought out! We met up with some "old" friends and met some new ones and generally had a ball!! We all set up "camp" in one area and all the kids in the group just wandered back and forward between the events on the "back" pitches and the main stadium. They met and spoke with numerous players and got lots of autographs. Ronan managed to get his photo taken with the Scottish Rockettes, a cheer leading troupe of young ladies!!! (Boy is he proud of THAT pic on his phone!!)





Here they both are at Murrayfield on Saturday.





(Yes Ronan has on a very pink top....its one of the Stade Francais match tops....he also has one of their other ones which is gold with big pink flowers on it!!!!!
I think it is a "fashion" statement as since he bought it several of his team mates also have one......whatever! He says he's "in touch" with his feminine side!!!!!! Aye right!)Robert thinks its hallarious, give him a Scottish or British Lions top and he is quite happy.