ANNAN P1-P7 TIGERS HOST DUMFRIES SAINTS.

P1-P3 MATCH REPORT FROM: To Be Added

The P2 Tigers

The P3 Tigers

P4-P5 MATCH REPORT FROM: To Be Added

P4 Tigers

P5 Tigers

P6 MATCH REPORT FROM: Nicole Barlow

On Sunday 26th September, Annan P6s hosted 4 mini matches against their Dumfries counterparts at a mostly dry Violetbank. Player attendance was fantastic and so allowed us to form two rotating teams of 7, Annan Black and Annan Gold.

Annan Black was up first against a well-drilled Dumfries side. Strong carries from Daniel Farrall and Kaden McEwan edged Annan close to the try line where Mason Weild burst through 2 tackles to score the first try of the day.

Dumfries responded quickly and within a matter of seconds, scored their first to equal the game. A determined Annan side fought back immediately with another score from Mason and one from Danny “the destroyer” Petherick who smashed his way over the try line for Annans third try of the game.

Unfortunately Dumfries then found their spark and dominated the rest of the game, scoring several more try’s from strong running and some great side steps.

After some great offloads from Harley Farish and Finbar, Honey Smith took her chance to break through a tackle and charge in, to score Annans final try for this game.

Despite the hard efforts from Annan Gold, the second half of the game was controlled by Dumfries as they ran in a few more try’s to take the final score to 14-4.

After a quick water break it was Annan Black on the pitch again and similar to the first game, Annans attack was strong and from another great run by Mason Annan scored again.

At half time it was Annan Golds time to make their mark and as a result of strong carries from Max Aitkinson, Lexie Monaghan and David Graham, it was Archie Nicholson who barged over the line to score the well-worked team try.

Despite the great tackling attempts from Jack Sharkey and Braydon Ogilvie, Dumfries once again ran away with the game to take the score to 9-2.

The final two matches were much alike the first 2 with Dumfries dominating the games, but Annan dug deep and thanks to several quick sprints up the wing from Aoife Carruthers, Annan scored a further 7 try’s from Danny, Archie, Kaden and Braydon.

A tough day at the office for Annan P6s but they played well, supported each other and worked as a unit throughout the day and certainly earned their post-match hot dogs.

P7 MATCH REPORT FROM: Paul O’Donnell

Our P6 and P7 Tigers played their first home games of the season on Sunday against Dumfries. Based on a large turnout from both clubs we were able to split the 6’s and 7’s up and play separate games for each age group.

As expected, Dumfries came well prepared with a large squad of players that for the most part outsized their smaller neighbours. This clear size advantage had an immediate impact with Dumfries running in a number of early tries leaving the home side a little shell shocked.

After the first quarter our young Tigers were a little battered and bruised and feeling like it would be a long day at the office. However, in the second quarter the Tigers dug deep. They tackled, they ran, they passed and they worked as a team to fight for the first try of day. As their confidence grew, so did the try count – scoring 2 tries in the third quarter and 3 in the fourth.

Try scorers – Ryan, McKinley and Ciaran.

What was particularly pleasing to see was the improvement the team made during the course of the game. The attitude of these youngsters to get stuck in and never give up despite having their backs against the wall against a really strong Dumfries side was outstanding.

There were plenty of tired and sore bodies at the end of the game but also lots of smiles and laughter. This was a great learning experience for all the players and we are excited to take these learnings on the road to Moffat next week.

P6-P7 Tigers