Match Day Programme

Match Day Programme

Official Matchday Programme • 10.06.22 • KO 7:45 pm • Watsonians Rugby vs Stirling County SONIANS

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I welcome everyone to Meggetland this evening for the final match in the FOSROC Super6 Sprint series 2022, but I especially welcome Stirling County players, committee and supporters. Watsonians are still unbeaten and with Stirling County having only lost two games so far, tonight's game promises to be a real cracker. The FOSROC Super 6 Sprint Series winner's trophy will be presented after the match to one of the teams playing this evening. I also want to thank Boroughmuir R ugby and the City of Edinburgh Council for allowing WFC to use Meggetland while the Myreside pitch is being used for school athletics. My thanks must also go to Mackenzies Catering for their help and support with post-match catering, while the Myreside Pavilion was unavailable for many home games played on the stand pitch, but also for our last game at Meggetland, as well as this evenings.

The Myreside Pavilion is due to open again on 20 June, following recent damp and drainage problems, so I encourage all the WFC family to use it and benefit from an extensive reconstruction project. Tonight's game brings the 2021-22 to a close, and I want to thank all our volunteers and paid staff for their excellent work during, at times, a difficult but nevertheless successful season on many fronts. I encourage you all to stay in touch with the club's latest news through the website and social media channels.

Have a great evening,

Euan Kennedy President, WFC

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I'd like to welcome everyone to Meggetland for the final game of our sprint season. I want to say thank you to the fans who have come out and supported us through this run, both home and away. It's been an intense block of games and the quality of the games has improved week on week throughout the Sprint Competition. Stirling will come to Meggetland full of confidence after a last-minute win against Ayrshire Bulls and with some travelling support to cheer them on. Stirling has played some great rugby in the competition and their last-minute win against Ayr showed their never say die attitude. For us as a group, this competition has been about trying to get better in each game collectively and individually and putting in the work to do that. Our group are really looking forward to this final game and are determined to finish off the competition well. We look forward to seeing our supporters back at Myreside for the main competition, beginning in August and are grateful to Edinburgh Leisure and Boroughmuir Rugby Club for hosting us here at Meggetland.

Kind regards, Fergus Pringle Head Coach, Watsonians Rugby

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Match Report- 0 3/0 6 /2022 Ayrshire Bulls Watsonians

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Watsonians entered the game knowing a bonus-point win would have secured the 2022 Super6 Sprint Series title with a game left to play, but a resurgent second half from the Bulls means the celebrations were put on hold. The Bulls were the brighter team in the opening 15 minutes, controlling possession and putting the Sonians' defence under pressure for lengthy periods. Momentum slowly swung Watsonians way as the Bulls left the 22 with nothing to show for their work. Each phase seemed stifled by a surging Wats o nians defence, as a maroon shirt appeared every time the Bulls thought they had found a gap. On Watsonians first foray into the Bulls half, they started to turn the screw as the forwards worked hard to keep possession and build pressure. As the phases took Watsonians closer and closer to the try line, it was back-row Mesu Kunavalu, who finally broke through, going over under the posts, leaving Lee Millar with an easy conversion. Just six minutes later, Man-of-the-match Lomond MacPherson finished a flowing left to right move after taking a great line to split the defenders and Lee Millar added another conversion extending the lead to 14-0.

A couple of chances went begging for Watsonians as they pushed for the two more tries they knew would bring the Sprint Series title to Myreside before Lee Millar added a penalty on the stroke of half-time to give us a 17-0 lead. The second half started in a similar way to the first, with the Bulls showing the early impetus, knowing they didn't want the game to get away from them.

But again, some big defensive sets and solid discipline set up a third Watsonians try.

Karl Main joined the game off the bench and, within minutes, powered over for a third try. Millar once again added the conversion and Sonians' knew seeing the game out and adding one more try would lead to celebrations at the whistle. As with the game at Millbrae just 13 days earlier, the Bulls finished strong with three tries in the last ten minutes. Thomas Glendinning scored the first, finishing off another long period of pressure. The second by Finn Callaghan was a joy to behold as Tom Jordan chipped over Watsonians defence, chasing down his own kick. With the c lock in the red, Ayrshire added a third try via Thomas Glendinning again after Jones sidestep wrong- footed the defence. While the disappointment of not securing the title at the first chance was visible for all the Watsonians players, more than one mentioned how big it was to win two games at Millbrae this season. Word s : Matt Farnham Image: George McMillan

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We are looking for a candidate to build on the success of the 2021/22 season in which the team won the Tennent’s Premiership and were runners up in the Sarah Beaney Cup. The candidate should be a good communicator and motivated to lead the Women’s 1XV in the Tennent’s Women’s Premiership for 2022/23. For more information visit www.watsoniansrugby.com/news/vacancy-womens-xv-head-coach

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WFC Warriors – Parma Tour April 2022

23 P7 boys and their dads flew to Milan on Friday 8th, April, to play in the inaugural Massimo Cuttita International Challenge, a tournament organised in honour of his close friend and 69-time capped Italian prop, Massimo. The Italian International had very close ties with Scottish Rugby, coaching at Edinburgh Rugby before spending six years as the national team's scrumming coach.

Massimo died in April 2021 after contracting COVID.

We want to send a very special thanks to Michele, the club president, and his wife Alessandra, just two of the several club volunteers who worked tirelessly from dawn until the following dawn to make everything work perfectly. A very special thank you to Sergio Ghillani for arranging the Massimo Cuttita International Challenge and the countless volunteers and hosts we met. This occasion will live long in the memory of our players and the travelling adults, whom the trip wouldn't have been possible without. Thank you to all the parents who supported the teams and Fergus Perks for the write up. If you want to play for Watsonians mini's please contact [email protected]

After months of planning and coordination, 48 Italian teams and 2 Watsonian Warriors teams would take to the field in Parma, home of Amatori Parma Rugby and Zebre.

The tournament was a rousing success, with both the boys and the dads who accompanied them, ask the dads about the 3rd half. On the field, it turned out Italian rugby had changed their age groupings from U12 to U13 that year, so the players were up to 2 years older. The Italians play different age-grade rules to make things even harder, allowing tackling above waist-level and mauls.

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THE WATSONIAN FOOTBALL CLUB PLAYED ITS FIRST GAME ON 30 JANUARY 1875 AGAINST ST GEORGE.

In 1876 Watsonians adopted the maroon and white colours it wears today and two years later the club moved to Myreside, named after a local farm of the day. In 1877 the club became a member of the Scottish Football Union (which became the SRU in 1924). Watsonians won their first Scottish Club Championship in the season 1891/1892, but their greatest period of dominance came between 1908 and 1914 when they won the championship a further five times. After relegation in 1989 the club relaxed its membership rules and having gone undefeated in Division II they won promotion back to Division I in 1991. After returning to Division I Watsonians challenged regularly for honours until, in Season 1997/1998, they regained the Scottish Championship title. Since John Tod played for Scotland in 1884 Watsonians have fielded over seventy Scottish internationalists, including five Scotland captains and seven British Lions. Watsonians have had key roles in all three of Scotland’s Grand Slams to date. In 1925 AC Gillies played in three matches. In the game against France he scored one try and kicked two conversions, while in the game against England he converted a try with a superb kick from the touchline to help seal victory. Against England in 1984 centres David Johnston and Euan Kennedy both scored tries en route to Scotland’s first Grand Slam since 1925. Gavin and Scott Hastings played in every game of Scotland’s successful Grand Slam in 1990. In the never to be forgotten final game against England it was Gavin’s kick through that set up the deciding try, scored by Tony Stanger, while Scott made an outstanding try-saving tackle on Rory Underwood. More recent Watsonian Scottish internationalists include Tom Smith, Duncan Hodge, Cameron Mather, Marcus Di Rollo, Jason White, Chris Cusiter, Kyle Traynor, Steve Lawrie, Fraser Brown, Stuart McInally, Adam Hastings and Jake Kerr.

In recent years many Watsonians have been capped for Scotland Sevens including Colin Gregor, Andrew Turnbull, Mike Fedo, Andrew Skeen, Jack Ferguson, James Johnstone, Ally Miller and Max McFarland. The women’s team was formed as Watsonians Ladies in 1998 with a nucleus of players who were graduates from Edinburgh University and friends from various other clubs including Edinburgh Accies; numbers were made up by some others who had never played rugby before. The first game was played at Myreside in August 1998 against Stirling County. The club progressed through the divisions in successive seasons and over the years have successfully competed in numerous Scottish Rugby finals winning the National Bowl and National Plate competitions on three occasions. In 2018 the club were runners up in the Sarah Beaney Cup final, and 2019 saw them crowned as cup champions beating Hillhead Jordanhill 21-17; this game was also the first ever women’s club game in Scotland to be televised on BBC Alba. Over the years, a number of players have come and gone from no fewer than 15 different countries. Numerous have gained full international honours for Scotland including one who went on to become an International Referee, and two who have played at the Touch Rugby World Cup. The team proudly play with the letter H rather than a number 8 shirt which they retired in memory of club stalwart Keri Holdsworth who sadly passed away in June 2014; every member of the team also plays with her initials on their kit. In 2019, 21 years after its formation, the team decided to change its name from Watsonians Ladies to Watsonians Women.

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*FOSROC Academy player

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Fig. I: A typical PROFIT hopingfor some tries

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On-street Parking

Parking is shown by brown lines on the map. Parking as per tariff on parking meter, approx. £2.50/hour, Mon-Fri, 8:30am-5:30pm.

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Myreside

10 Western Harbour - Torphin or Bonaly 23 Trinity - Greenbank 27 Silverknowes - Hunter's Tryst 38 West Granton - Royal Infirmary 45 Heriot-Watt Uni - Queen Margaret Uni Five local bus services stop very close to Myreside:

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Postcode for SATNAV: EH10 5DB what3words: ///belong.shirt.blank

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200m

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Fri day 10 th June 2022, Meggetland, 7:45 pm

Harry Paterson Lomond MacPherson Matt Currie Joe Reynolds Angus Guthrie Lee Millar (Capt) Rory Brand Harris o n Courtney Cal Davies (vc) Angus Williams Luis Ball Kwagga van Niekerk Seb Cecil Connor Boyle Mesu Kunavula

Logan Trotter

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Stevie Hamilton DJ Innes Ryan Southern Walter Fifita (Capt) Marcus Holden

Sean Kennedy John McKenna Angus Fraser George Breese James Pow Adam Sinclair George Arnott Connor Gordon Benedict Grant

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REPLACEMENTS 16 17 18 19 20

Elliot Young Sam Grahamslaw Bobby Bratton Kieran Watt Karl Main Murray Scott Jason Baggott Lewis Berg

Joe Halliday Cameron MacMillan Gary Strain Hamish Ferguson Callum Cruickshank Harry Russell Craig Robertson Mike Gray

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REFEREE: Hollie Davidson (SRU) ASSISTANT REFEREES: Ruaridh Campbell (SRU), Bob Nevins (SRU)

Please note the team line-ups may change

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