Mini section host annual rugby festival

May 18 2011 by Paul Thomson, East Kilbride News

Mini section host annual rugby festival

THE mini section of East Kilbride Rugby Club held their annual Festival of Rugby on Saturday at Torrance House – and what an action-packed day it turned out to be.

The Primary 1-3 side acquitted themselves well, despite being a year younger than the bulk of their opponents.

Adam Reilly, Ross MacMillan and Ben Everett scored in the win against Ayr, while Evan Selfridge and Callum Ferrie crossed in the draw with eventual winners, Lasswade.

Clarkston proved too strong, despite tries from Evan Selfridge and Fraser McCann, but EK bounced back to defeat Strathaven in their final game, with tries from Adam English and Jack Cooper.

The Primary 4 side had come out on top at Strathaven's tournament last weekend, but any hope of a repeat disappeared in a poor opener against eventual winners Lasswade.

Things got better when GHA were put away in the second game before an outrageous third game, in which Ewan Mossman touched down in injury time to secure an 8-8 draw with Strathaven.

EK rounded off a decent afternoon’s work when sharing the spoils with Ayr, stand-out player Cameron MacMillan getting a well-merited hat-trick.

The most competitive age-group was at Primary 5 level, where EK were coming off three tournament victories in a row, having triumphed at Strathendrick, Lasswade and Strathaven in the past month.

Their good form continued with a comprehensive 8-3 opening win over Lasswade, Ben Simpson scoring twice. Strathaven proved a tougher proposition, with EK finally triumphing 7-5, mainly thanks to a Frasier Jackson hat-trick.

Clarkston were even tougher, with EK winning by the odd try in seven, with Jamie Robb claiming all of the EK scores.

The final group game, against Ayr, was a slightly easier affair with Euan Ferrie and Matthew Bell both scoring twice in a 9-3 win. This set up an intriguing final against German side Frankfurt 1860.

The tourists had blown everyone away in their run to the title game and when they jumped out to a 5-0 lead it looked like EK would go the same way as all previous opponents.

However, the hosts dug deep and tries from Liam Madden, Evan Martin and the Brown twins, Lewis and Matthew, allied to the rugged defence of Matthew Smith and Euan Ferrie, left the game finely balanced.

Frankfurt had greater strength in depth though, having 16 players to pick from, and their greater resources told as they hung on to record a deserved win.