Gordonstoun. ..one of the top private schools in Scotland, frequented by Royals & folk with bags of money who are willing to offload it on their offspring's education and a word that put the fear of death into a one time 7yr old who was threatened with on many an occasion the words"if ye dinnae behave yersel we're takin ye up tae Gordonstoun tae boarding school !". .
How my parents could afford it still baffles me to this day :)
One things for sure that you're always going to be treated with respect from their pupils with the boys addressing myself and the fellow coaches as 'Sir" ...just how it should be !
Onto the game and with the boys still understaffed due to more injury woes we had to bolster the squad with age grade players from the S3 group to make up the numbers to a respectable 18 .
The previous two encounters with our guests had resulted in fairly straightforward convincing wins without the boys having to really hit top gear, but with Gordonstoun you're never quite sure what kind of side is going to turn up . Today they looked a far better prospect than the past meetings and after a early try by the ever enterprising Jacob they were back in the game allowing Conrad Howie (ex mackie) the space to run in the points ,however normal service was shortly to be resumed with Finlay Taylor then Harris both opening up the defence with a try apiece. Not to be outdone the Gordonstoun boys fought their way back into the match with another Howie try which our defence had a bit of a mare defending but young master Howies cockiness whilst grounding the ball for the score just fuelled the fire amongst the mackie machine who then went on the rampage with further crossings of the whitewash by Harris, Iain (2) , Owen Stewart , CP1, Finlay T with a 2nd , Dean & Logan with Rikki adding the extras with a fine display from the ever reliable boot with a 9 from 11 conversion rate .. Drew Howie did add another 3points to the Away scoreboard but a fairly convincing win with the final score culminating in a 42-12 victory for the Red n Black Machine ...
Another fine performance by each and everyone of the boys who graced the Redcloak turf today , slowly but surely there's a great bond and spirit coming together within the squad and I honestly hope that they can build and learn from this for the future....
Onwards and upwards. ...next weekend will see us renew our rivalries with our 'friends' from Grammar which promises to be a mouthwatering encounter ...