S2 Saints – SRU Fair Play Festival success
Dumfries Saints S2’s took part in the SRU Fair Play Festival at GHA on Sunday. The squad of 12 were in the same half of the draw as the much bigger squads of Glasgow Hawks, West of Scotland and hosts, GHA.
Dumfries were slow to start in the first game against Hawks. The front row of Fergus Hiddleston, Nathan Brown and Connor Lynch faced a much bigger opposition but with Elliot Gorman, Jack Bain, who made the shift from fullback to 2nd row with ease, and Scott McLellan at 8, the forwards were soon showing that technique can match size in a scrum. Hawks scored first with an interception and a try ran in from halfway. BJ Cowley evened the score with Andrew McMorrin’s reliable boot converting it. Hawks managed to score again with the final score Hawks winning 2 converted trys to 1.
Next up was West with a squad of 31. They looked tough opposition but with Dumfries now firing on all cylinders, West struggled to cope with strong running and great angles resulting in Jack Roberts, Scott, BJ, Gavin Wilson and Gareth McHugh all scoring with great support running for all tries. Andrew converted 4 out of 5. Bayley McKinnon showed great hands at the re-starts to secure the ball and straight running to put West on the back foot from the start. Final score, Dumfries won 5 tries to nil.
The last game against GHA was always going to be tough. Biggar lent Dumfries 3 players to allow 15 aside and despite losing the first try the boys dug deep and continued to play their own game. After a great kick from a penalty in their own 22 they had a lineout inside GHA’s 22. From a well worked lineout the resulting rolling maul led to a try for Gavin, converted by Andrew. GHA managed to score again and the final score saw GHA win 2 tries to 1.
Out of 8 teams, Dumfries finished 2nd equal to GHA by one point and Gareth McHugh was awarded one of 4 Outstanding Players of the Tournament awards. It was a great display by all the boys who showed they are more than capable of playing any opposition no matter size or reputation, well done to all.
Squad – Fergus Hiddleston, Nathan Brown, Connor Lynch, Elliot Gorman, Jack Bain, Scott McLellan, Jack Roberts, Andrew McMorrin, Gavin Wilson, BJ Cowley, Gareth McHugh, Bayley McKinnon.