Rugby in Llandovery

In half-term, the 1st and 2nd XV squads were invited down to Llandovery College to compete in the Vivian Jenkins Memorial Match for the first time. This is a huge honour, and the squad responded tremendously to the challenge to record two emphatic wins.

The 1st XV game was extremely exciting, but it was marred by the sending off of the Llandovery hooker after only 15 minutes. However, some fantastic handling by the team and an outstanding set piece saw the team lead 10-6 at the interval with David Cherry and Sam Hughes scoring tries.

The second half was extremely physical and some very ugly incidents from the Llandovery players took the sheen off a fabulous team performance.  Second half tries from Sandy Richardson, Rickie Cheung and Kit Abram and another awesome defensive performance led to the final score of 25-6 in our favour. This is the first time the XV have ever beaten Llandovery College and to do it in Wales was an exceptional effort.

The whole 15 played out of their skins, but special mention should go to debutant Bruce Mustard at 6, Alex Brewster who played out of position at 8 and Lewis Johnston who adapted so well after the injury to James Johnstone.  Russell Weir played with an injured knee and man of the match Sam Hughes once again demonstrated his real class against very good opposition.

The 2nd XV played excellently to record another great win against Llandovery with Glenn Leslie being the star of the show scoring 25 points in the 37-7 victory. Other good performers included Simon March at scrum half, Nick Watt in the front row and Ruaridh Wishart in the back row.

An excellent weekend for Merchiston rugby.