Melrose Rugby Bulletin 11/9/2024
What a fabulous Wednesday it’s been! And a great night for the U16 Wasps to take on Hawick (apart from the heavens opening suddenly)! They are in action at the Annay Road pitch at 7pm if you fancy a daunder over, any support would be massively appreciated. Thanks to Michael Ramage Forestry for supporting the Wasps! UPDATE: They won 28 - 21
Last week’s Rugby
Last week was a pretty good week as far as rugby was concerned! The Storm took on Kelso on Friday night and came away with a 31-26 win, which was a great result for their opening Border Junior League campaign. The U16s didn’t have so much fun against Gala & lost that one, the U15’s took a big win from Duns and then on Saturday afternoon, with a vocal crowd of supporters behind them, the 1XV grabbed the win at Malleny Park against Currie, 27-28 to Melrose, a fantastic win! You can read Iain’s match report HERE.
Jerry Blyth-Rafferty who is aligned to the club from Edinburgh Rugby was named ‘Man of the Match’ & both he & Ben Mclean (supported by Evie’s Batten Journey) were named as part of the Offside Line, ‘'Dream Team of the Week’! You can read the Offside Line report HERE.
Jerry Blyth Rafferty Ben Mclean
Talking of Currie, there was a bit of a surprise when the guys got there, they learned that they would be playing for the Bill McLaren Shield – a trophy always adds a bit of excitement to the match! The win saw the boys bring home the Shield. It’s the first time since 2018 that it has been at the Greenyards and we hope it’s here for a while!
About the Bill McLaren Shield
The Bill McLaren Shield was formed in 2011 in honour of the legendary Hawick commentator, who was better known as the “voice of rugby”. Hawick were the first holders of the trophy and was contested for the first time in September 2011 in a match versus Boroughmuir.
The Shield is an open challenge to all clubs in the Premiership and National Leagues. After a team has won The Shield from the holder, they then must remain unbeaten for four consecutive home games in order to get their name engraved onto the trophy (the holders must win or draw these matches). If a team beats them at home, then they shall become the new holders.
If they achieve the 4 in a row, then all games thereafter will be contested for The Shield home and away. The team that subsequently defeats them will become the new holders and repeat the same process.
This means the Shield will be on the line on Saturday when Watsonians come to the Greenyards for round 3 of the @scotrugbyprems!
The Bill McLaren Shield at The Greenyards
You can visit the Shield in the Ned Haig Bar on Saturday!
This week’s Rugby
As mentioned, the U16’s are heading down to Annay Road to take on Hawick tonight at 7pm
Friday – The Storm host Gala here at the Greenyards – Kick off 7:30pm. The bar will be open if you fancy popping down.
Saturday – U18 Wasps head to Poynder Park to take on Kelso Quins. Their kick off is at 3pm.
Melrose Rugby 1XV host Watsonian FC (contesting the Bill McLaren Shield) Kick off is 3pm –
Saturday also see’s us officially re-opening the Ned Haig Bar, we’re delighted to invite everyone along to the official ‘re-opening’ of the newly refurbished Ned Haig Bar at 1:15pm before the 1st XV play Watsonians. The bar will be open, and the senior players have also kindly sponsored some free pies, so come along for a pint and pie before kick-off! Co-Head Coach Scott Wight will also be dropping in to share his thoughts ahead of the game. A huge thank you again to everyone who has helped with the refurbishment! It takes a village and luckily our ‘village’ is made up of lots of skilled members/players & coaches!
More Visitors to the Club
Yesterday we had another visitor with Club connections, South African, Amelia McGill dropped in as she’d been staying over in Duns and realised it wasn’t too far from Melrose, a place her Dad speaks of fondly – turns out her Dad, Jonno played for Melrose back in 2000/2001 while he was a gap student next door at St Marys (teaching the likes of players Donald & Doug). She was delighted to get a quick tour of the club & Fiona Bell popped over and took her back to have a look at St Mary’s too!
An Unsung Hero….
A couple of weeks ago, the Offside Line published a great article about one of our own, Elise Ross. Elise puts masses of her time into the club and is a long time volunteer – Thanks so much Elise, for all you do! CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE
A Couple of reminders...
Guinness Six Nations Away Tickets
There is still time to apply for your Six nations away tickets, if you’re planning on applying, please have your form submitted by 12 noon on Thursday 19th September so I can get the order into Scottish Rugby by Friday 20th.
Ladies Day...
Tickets are selling fast for Ladies Day, if you are hoping to attend – CLICK HERE for tickets!
Think that’s about it for this week. We’re looking forward to lots of rugby over the next few days! Hopefully we’ll see masses of you down at the Greenyards! I still have some membership cards awaiting pick-up, so if you haven’t got yours yet, pop into the office pre match on Saturday. If you haven’t got your new membership yet, you can still jump onto the website and sign up!
Until next time,
All the best
Hilary