The sun was out shining at Currie RFC for the first of four rounds for the Pathways games on Sunday. The Under 15 Eastern Eagles & Under 15 Western Chargers served up a feast of running rugby on the number 2 pitch, with the Chargers coming out on top with a convincing performance. The Eagles couldn’t live with the offloading and excellent support play of the Chargers that lead to some great tries. The Eagles had some good passages of play themselves, trying to play with width and sticking to the core National Themes they had been working on so hard. The Chargers defence stood solid and every time the Eagles looked like scoring the last pass seemed to go to deck. Both sets of coaches are happy to get the first game under the belt and have plenty to work on this week at practice. In particular there will be a real emphasis on ball presentation, accuracy when clearing out and the speed or reorganisation in attack.
 
The Under 16 teams played a mini round robin comp with the visiting team from the Borders West. Both sides struggled at times to live with the physicality in defence and the organization in attack of the Borders team. Neither side were disgraced though and produced some structured attack with evidence of the core themes coming through. When the 2 Edinburgh sides met the Eagles came out on top, the forwards created the momentum with direct running and quick contacts before excellent hand catching & passing moved the ball into the spaces out wide for backs Scott Simpson, Lyall Brown and Sam Pequer to finish the tries off. The forwards were not to be left out when Thomas Gracie crashed over from close range once again from some effective work in close from the forwards. The Chargers created plenty of chances themselves but poor option taking and handling skills at the crucial time let them down. Damien Hoyland was regularly at the heart of the good attacks for the Chargers and deserved his individual try under the posts. This week there will be a real focus on the breakdown, handling & decision making at practice as both teams strive to build on their first performances.

At Jedburgh, both of the East Lothian Falcons teams were the visitors with the EL under 15’s taking on Roxburgh and the EL 16’s taking on Borders East. Both games were played on excellent surfaces and in perfect weather for running rugby.

In the under 16 fixture, The East squad from the Borders came out on top with some excellent running rugby, keeping their width well and some good offloads whilst in the 15’s game, the East Lothian lads showed some excellent shape to their game but also showed that they have some excellent individuals.
Both games highlighted evidence of the Key National Themes that their coaches have been working hard on all season, however their will be an emphasis on contact skills in the coming weeks.

Next Games:
Under 15 Chargers v Borders Roxburgh
Under 15 Eagles v Borders Selkirkshire
Both at Gala 1pm KO
 
Under 16 Round Robin
Eagles v Borders East – 1pm
Chargers v Borders East – 1.40pm
Eagles v Chargers – 2.20pm
Linlithgow RFC