Rugby round-up

IT was a severely depleted Ross Sutherland squad that made the trip to Stornoway at the weekend and despite the loan of a couple of local players, they couldn’t prevent the home side from securing a bonus point win.Those that made the trip put on a strong display and made sure their hosts had to work hard for the win. Although there were periods when Ross Sutherland controlled the game, with some key players missing and others playing in unfamiliar positions, it was perhaps inevitable that the advantage would swing in Stornoway’s direction.Four tries and one conversion to nil in this tough encounter were perhaps more of a hard defeat for Ross than an easy win for Stornoway. Final score: Stornoway 22 – 0 Ross SutherlandIn a change to the fixture schedule the team will not play Garioch this weekend as advertised but hope to play Aberdeen Wanderers in a re-arranged match. Details will be confirmed on the club website www.pitchero.com/clubs/rosssutherlandrfc.Meanwhile, at Invergordon the set-piece frailties in the U18s team showed themselves again and Gordonstoun were in no mood to be as profligate as Moray the week before; easing to a 29-0 win.For the second week in a row it was a makeshift team that took to the field, this time with three forced changes from the week before. The Ross side struggled to deal with Gordonstoun’s strong running throughout the game although the margin of victory was perhaps a bit harsh on the home side.The coaches have plenty to work on before this weekend’s fixture against Caithness, which kicks off at Invergordon Saturday 1pm.Despite a dismal Saturday for the club, Sunday was much brighter despite the cold and rain in Inverurie as the U15s produced another stunning result by defeating Garioch 79-5.Although not reflected in the score line, the Garioch pack were more than a match for the visiting forwards but Lewis MacLeod (3), Jake Henry (2), Daniel Gordon (1) and Fergus Farrell (3) again provided the cutting edge in attack and have now scored a very impressive 17 tries between them in 2 games.When the Ross youngsters hit 50 points and the result was no longer in doubt, both teams swapped some players to even up the contest for the remainder of the second half. Three further Ross tries were scored by Garioch players including one for Tyler Will who had the distinction of scoring for both teams in the match; a great example of how good sportsmanship is a key feature of rugby.The remaining points for Ross Sutherland were scored by Tom Bannerman (1 try, 1 conversion), Farrell (2 conversions), and Henry Pearce (4 conversions).This weekend the U15s feature in a double header with the U18s as Caithness make the trip south.

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