Weekends Pre-Match Preview – week 5

Club President : Gavin McQuillan

Firstly a massive thank you again for all the people who made last weeks mini festival a huge success. A brilliant day and great to see so many kids enjoying their rugby.

Both senior teams away from home this weekend, so if you fancy a trip with the First XV to Langholm then there is room on the bus 1145 meet at the leisure centre of if you want something a little closer to home the super 2s are down at Watsonians. Best of luck to both squads. Club memberships are an important source of income for the club allowing us to fund the many great things we run.

Thanks to the generous and continued support of our sponsors we have been able to extend our discounted membership fees till the end of October. Payment couldn’t be easier just hit the link below and select the category most suitable for you.

Membership details can be found at https://penicuikrugby.org/online-membership/

Director of Rugby : Mark Blair

Penicuik 1xv 26- 17 Hawick Linden

Tries : Ketchen(2), Sprott & Dean

Con : Malone (3)

Pens :

For once it was myself away on a jolly last Saturday, so instead of my tones, here’s 1xv assistant coach Natascha Kretzel

With a bit of a frantic and unsettled start to our game against Hawick, with several missed Try scoring opportunities, and a number of unnecessary kicking away of possession, Stevie K managed to sneak a first converted Try in within the first 10 minutes, followed by an unconverted Try, by Hawick. The boys managed to reply soon after with John Sprott’s 2nd converted Try, Hawick answered our efforts with a 2nd unconverted Try, taking us to half time

2nd half saw Aidan smack them with our 3rd Try, and continued pressure running at our opposition, wore them down, and allowed Stevie to eek in our 4th and Final Try, affording us our Bonus Point, and even though Hawick snuck a 3rd Try, and even though we were in our own 22 for most of the 2nd half of the 2nd half, the entire team came together with outstanding defense, making sure Hawick was never awarded with neither a win, nor a bonus point

Our backline was a great deal more fluid than our previous games this season, that saw their set pieces coming together nicely, communication was far better, and our forwards really worked hard, to afford our backs with the ball, and of course Oscar, with his ever-reliable boot, saw to it, that we stayed in the lead right til the end. There were 2 moments of concern, where we allowed them to get a little too close to our lead, for comfort, but Rugby was played

Pity about a few injuries, but luckily nothing too serious and we should see our men take on Langholm with renewed vigour

Well done men, I’m looking forward to see Saturday unfold positively for us again

2xv coach : Rich Mann

Penicuik 2xv v Aberfeldy & Lismore

Tries : ??

Con : ???

Last weekend was a series of highs and lows, on one hand we lost both games we played, on the other we ensured that 3 sides managed to get some rugby on a beautiful Penicuik afternoon.

Let me go back a few steps. Our game against Walkerburn was cancelled on Thursday night, this left us with a game to organise. Luckily our friends up in Aberfeldy had a cancellation and they were keen to come down to Penicuik and find out what all the recent fuss was about.

GAME ON.

Then at lunchtime on Saturday Lismore got in touch and said their game was also off. Unfortunately we were unable to play them as Aberfeldy were on their way. However we suggested they come up anyway and we work a 3 team mini tournament which would mean we all got rugby. We decided on 12 V 12 with 30 minute matches,

Phil and Neil from Aberfeldy and Nick and Tug from Lismore along with myself and Ben chatted with the referee (gig thanks and kudos to Andrew) and set up the format. Aberfeldy were by far the better team on the afternoon and won both their games. However what was evident was that three teams bonded and created an amazing atmosphere that saved 50 players Saturday afternoon. Everyone enjoyed the Penicuik welcome and agreed that we will see more of this format going forward.

This week sees us heading to Myreside for our first trip there in many a year to play Watsonians. Numbers are down with various injuries (broken finger, broken toe, twisted ankle, clicking knee, sore shoulder) and people away doing other things (Shopping for kitchens, Sporran fittings, Wedding). However we have 16 hardy men making the trip to front up and achieve a result. It’s always a hard and tricky place to play, however with the players on call a result should be achieved.

Duncan Fell is making his first start of the season with Ali mac and Rookie doing the skipper and vice skipper job.

Weekends Squads (correct at time of publish)

1xv : Its a settled forwards pack with the only change in the front row, Max Malone returns at hooker with Paul Smith (who had a superb game against Hawick) moving to prop and Tom Winnington dropping out the squad all together. We have a new half back partnership with twins Shillinglaw and Mackintosh. Nick Adler returns at 13 and the same back 3 as last weekend

2xv : Unavailabilities and injuries continue to plague the 2xv, its great to welcome back Simon Glen at second row and its a first appearance for Calumn Smith at full who is freshly back from his media filming duties for Edinburgh Leisure (yes we all seen you Cal). Cameron Crawford comes onto the bench as part of his recovery from long term injury.

1xv captain : Aidan Dean

It was good to make the trip to Hawick and come away with a bonus point win, something a number of former Penicuik sides have failed to do. However we can’t play like that against Langholm and expect a result

In the last 10 minutes against Hawick we showed what we can do defensively as a team and hold our line and not leak any points, we need to be able to do that for the full 80 minutes! Langholm has always and will always be a tough place to go but I think if the boys stick in and play to our abliliy I’m confident we can come away with a result

Oh…..have I mentioned I scored last weekend?

Mini’s round up

Sonia Watson – Youth Conveyor

The mini section hosted their annual festival of rugby on Sunday with over 400 children from 6 clubs taking part and thanks to Bigger, Corstorphine, Dalkeith, Lasswade and Leith

There was some great rugby played from all age groups and plenty tries scored throughout the day. The hotdog and pizza slice was working particularly well with the primary 1 to 3 section.

A video highlights can be found on our Facebook channel https://fb.watch/fTGkHxXcCS/

Our micro section also continued on Sunday with lots of fun games and even more excitment when they got their medals, it’s great to see so many children out having fun and enjoying the sport, after all we would not be able to have such a fantastic festival without the children.

I would also like to say a huge thank you to all the helpers both before and on the day

In and around the Club House

Please note the current early bird membership discount expires the end of this month. Please see this link to registered before we revert to full price https://penicuikrugby.org/online-membership/

Our 200 club continues to providing for all rugby activities. The winners of the 200 Club Draw for September were:

C.Martin (No. 57 – £87.75)
M.Jackson (No. 19 – £35.50)
A.Wilson (No. 59 – £17.75)

If you would like to take part in the Draw, the profits from which help to keep the club afloat, please speak to Andrew Mitchell or Andy Law or email info@penicuikrugby.org

As always the club lounge is available for bookings for our members, wether its a birthday party, Christmas party or just a get together, our moveable seating allows us to meet all your needs

Player Sponsorship

It was great last week to launch our new player sponsorship for season 2022/23. Thanks to the local businesses and individuals who have already stepped up and contacted us. Thanks also to the players who have approached their employers, friends, family and neighbours. More sponsorship announcements are planned for next week.

If you’d like to join the Penicuik Rugby Family and sponsor a player please contact Gavin on sponsorship@penicuikrugby.org