As the sun split the sky, on Sunday the 29th of May, Bishopton u13’s welcomed Loch Lomond, Stathaven and Dalziel for their end of season festival. With the pitch, freshly cut and lined by Matt Wallace, it was in excellent condition and a perfect advertisement for summer rugby.
Bishopton kicked off the proceedings against a very big and physical Loch Lomond team, eventual festival winners, and our forwards were put under pressure from the off. They started to hold their own in the second half allowing the backs the start playing resulting in a much closer second half. A 28-0 loss doesn’t paint the picture of the determination and tacking effort made by our boys.
Our team are smaller than the opposition we face, so we focused on fast attacking rugby and the second game was a perfect example of that. Strathaven had a big forward pack and had cancelled Loch Lomond out in a hard fought 21-21 draw, it was now time for Bishopton to show how to exploit their weakness…
Against Strathaven our forwards had found their feet, fronting up, to allow the backs to play and play they did. A brace for stand-off Will Ellerker, the highlight of which was a lovely chip and chase started by centre Alistair McKillop, chased, and pick up by his brother scrum half Fraser and neatly finished by Will. Alistair narrowly beat Will to the man of the match award with a try of his own, strong evasive running and intelligent kicking. But credit to the whole team whose effort and determination were excellent throughout resulting in a well-deserved 26-20 win.
The final game had some excellent play from both sides but the physicality of the first two games had taken its toll and the boys looked tired against Dalziel. They did well to match Dalziel try for try and were unlucky not to get a draw when a difficult conversion, crisply struck hit the upright. Alas a 19-17 loss.
The festival was a great success and excellent feedback from the visiting coaches. It is an excellent way to showcase rugby in lovely weather and importantly bring some money in. Many thanks to the Keystore for donating crisps and water for all the boys.
The games were refereed, to a high standard, by two academy referees, an excellent facility to allow these events to go ahead.
It has been a good year for recruitment at Bishopton U13’s with 6 new players making their debuts and we continues to look for new recruits to bolster the squad for next season.
This is the first team at Bishopton rugby to graduate from the mini section into a secondary level team. We started the season with a squad of 15 and are finishing the season with a squad of 19. We will continue to train on a Wednesday evening till the schools stop, focusing on fitness and skills and will start again late July ready to step up to U14 rugby next year. We are being followed by our P7 graduates who will also step up to U13 with a full squad. The future looks bright at Bishopton.
Thanks to Ross Turpie, for the photos
