The Kinross minis travelled to St andrews for the openign matches of the season at the Madras round robin. On a lovely sunny day we put teams out at all ages from P3 to P7. Match reports as below:

P3 by Ian Clark.
The P3s played their first ever rugby games at sunny St Andrews and after a slightly nervous start the boys soon looked right at home.

The first game against Madras was a close affair finishing in a well earned draw against the home team. The next game against Dundee Eagles was even tighter with no tries in the first half and the Eagles only saving a draw with a try in the last play. With the back-to-back games out the way the boys (well maybe the coaches) got a welcome break and refreshments.

The third game against Ellon was more open and the tackling efforts dropped off, perhaps due to the amount crisps and chocolate that had been devoured, at the start allowing the opposition two soft tries. Some on-field re-organisation by Pete and some great running by Oliver, Fergus and Gus, to name a few, saw two of the best tries of the day and.........yep.....another draw. But a very well deserved and hard earned one!!

The final game against the, thus far, all conquering Watsonians was a fantastic game of touch rugby. Plenty of hard tackling work in defense by Ryan, Callum and Charlie and more hard running by Myles and Archie kept the scores close at 3-3 with only a couple of minutes to go. However a couple of late tries by Watsonians saw them run out winners.......the boys deserved another draw!!

All in all a great debut performance and the boys should be really proud of themselves, I know the parents and coaches certainly were. Great efforts guys and already looking forward to next week.

P5 by Kevin Borthwick

Today saw our first outing at P5 when we went to Madras to play in their round robin tournament. With a depleted side consisting of the bare minimum 6 players, meaning no subs, we were up against it form the start, With a total of 64 minutes of game time all 6 were totally out on their feet by the end of the day.
Unfortunately we didn’t manage to win any of our games today, and we certainly looked a bit ring rusty after the summer break.
It was not all doom and gloom however. Some great running, saw us score a good few trys in every game and we tackled reasonably well. Where we struggled was at the breakdown, and playing as individuals rather than as a team. When we did attack and defend as one, which was rarely, it made a huge difference.
So lots to work on on Saturday, to get us ready for Sundays matches against Hillfoots and Dunfermline.
Just to finish everyone had their great moments today and shouldn’t be disheartened by the result. We will work hard to get it right..

P6 by Martin Scott

Score
31::1
First game of the season for the P6 boys, on the bigger pitch and now with scrums. A great start however, with 4 matches against Madras, Ellon, Watsonians and Dundee Eagles. The boys played fantastically well, shipping the ball from side to side showing good patience and then putting some pace on the ball when needed. match scores were:

Kinross 7 – Madras 1
Kinross 8 – Dundee 0
Kinross 9 – Ellon 0
Kinross 7 – Watsonians 0

Some work needed on defence at kick off, and game management, but overall a brilliant start to the season. Well done boys.

P7 by Matt Warder

A great start to the season for the P7 team. First match saw us beat a well schooled Madras team with our "hunger" for the game shining through in 50/50 situations and giving us the edge to take a big first win of the season ! This was a huge boost for the team who then played a keenly contested 2-2 draw with Dundee Eagles. Word on the sidelines was that with some more training and improved passing play we can win that fixture next time. The team were by this point in " the zone" so to speak with rugby heads definitely switched on and minds focused on the last 2 games of the day. Ellon were first up and the cougars made their presence felt with a strong 5-1 win. Great support play and tackling throughout left the spectators applauding and the team clearly working hard for one another. Finally we had the toughest game of the day where a very well drilled Watsonians team gave us our first defeat of the season. In seasons past we have sometimes seen our heads drop when being beaten but I s really impressed by the effort and commitment shown by the team in the face of defeat….they didn’t give up and they left nothing on the pitch. Overall a great day for the whole team – you should be really proud of yourselves !
Positives to build on for next matches : teamwork, support play , hunger.
Areas to work on in training : passing game , owning the rucks.

Moray, Archie, Daniel, Sam A, Sam P, Fergus, Stuan, Euan and Andrew…..hope you enjoyed playing as much as we all enjoyed watching a really great performance from you all….well done !