Last Weekend in Review

All good things must come to an end, and the 1st XV ended their unbeaten streak at the weekend with a hard fought match away to Blairgowrie, losing 27-17. Lots of good lessons were learned and we will look forward to reversing the result on the return match.

Despite another rain drenched Sunday, both the Juniors and the Youth had another cracking day. The Juniors welcomed Lenzie RFC to Tilly Park and across all age groups enjoyed playing another team that embraces the ethos of Positive Coaching Scotland – effort, respect and responsibility. Special thanks to the Mums and Dads who helped with the home baking, teas and coffees!

Meanwhile in Glenrothes, the combined Youth team of Hillfoots and Falkirk, now known as Hillkirk (better than Fallfoots!) demonstrated great skills despite the slippery ball. Throughout the match, we gave 3 of our players to the opposition to maximise the boys playing time and ensure that ‘everyone plays’.

Please remember to sign up for a free test drive with Mitsubishi to earn £30 of kit for the Club – it’s less than an hour of your time!

Paddy

Free Kit for the Club!

The SRU have teamed up with Mitsubishi to offer Clubs rugby kit if their members book a test drive through our local dealer in Stirling. An hour of your time will get the Club £30 worth of kit! So if you have an hour spare in the next few weeks, please sign up through the link below!

Hillfoots RFC are part of the Kit 4 Clubs scheme and we need your help to raise funds. Follow the link here to help us earn money towards new kit and equipment courtesy of Mitsubishi Motors in the UK.

You can find out more in this clip here.

Finally! We are delighted to announce that we will have Schiehallion on tap. It’s great that we can support our local brewery Harviestons!

Hillfoots 1st XV

The last game in September 2017 saw another top of the table clash between Hillfoots XV and the hosts Blairgowrie RFC. Both teams were entering the fixture undefeated in the league so there was added pressure for both teams. The game started positively with both trying to exploit weaknesses in the defensive lines. Hillfoots XV conceded a couple of penalties which were converted and put the home side into the lead. The hosts then followed up with a try, which began to put more pressure on the Hillfoots to reply – which they did, scoring a well-worked team try to close the gap.

Unfortunately, there were some areas of the game in which Hillfoots could not dominate in the fashion they have been used to so far this this season, and Blairgowrie managed to score two more tries. Later on the second half, the visitors began to even up the playing field and scored two more tries. One of which was an elegant and well-timed interception by the Hillfoots number 10 (G. Carmichael). Blairgowrie managed to score a couple more penalties and the deficit was too great as the game ended in their favour, 27-17. Hillfoots XV are now looking to the next game at home and prepare to host Kinross RFC.

Talks, Touch, Sidesteps and Scrums…

Great games last week against Lenzie RFC – what a great team to play! Well matched game at every age group. some P6/P7’s first taste of the scrum too. The P4/P5 showed some great skills and style, and showed character in the face of a stern test against Lenzie. The Tigers are also showing great potential with the tackle shields and coaches flying everywhere!

Carl was giving a great teamtalk at the weekend, P4s are a bit light on numbers just now, which has its limitations but also has its benefits as it allows great coaches like Carl to bring on the players’ skills in all fields. Due to more 1to1 time and by understanding the needs of the player to facilitate a fun, positive and creative learning environment for them to thrive.

Hillkirk put on a polished performance at Glenrothes

The Youth side travelled to Fife on a rather dreich Sunday to take on a 12 man Glenrothes side. From the outset, three of our players volunteered to play for the opposition to make it 15 a-side, which we swapped for each of the three ‘halves’. Some great individual efforts in the first third saw us stretch into the lead by four tries. By the second third and having reinforced the opposition with some of our stronger players , we saw a greater contest with a further 2 tries being scored by Hillkirk and 3 tries by Glenrothes (including one from one of our players!). In the final third, we focussed on our set piece and second phase ball and played some fantastic rugby despite the slippery ball and sodden pitch. While we finished up with a total of 8 tries to 4, more importantly, everyone (and that’s both sides) came off the pitch in good spirits having enjoyed their morning. Thanks to Glenrothes for a really enjoyable morning and great stovies to warm us up!

Courses

If you would like to volunteer to help the rugby club, the following courses are available for you to get qualified either as a coach or a first aider. If the course is not free, the club will pay you any fee that the SRU has charged, on successful completion of your course, if you can commit to help coach on a Sunday.

World Rugby First Aid in Rugby Level 1, Course Cost: £35
Sunday 15 October (10am-4pm) Stirling County RFC UKCC Level 1: Coaching Children Rugby Union, Course Cost: £65
Saturday 7 October 2017 (9am-5pm), Sunday 8 October 2017 (9am-5pm) at Lornshill Academy

S1 & U16 Coaches – ‘Foundation Defence’, free:
Monday 16th October – Dunfermline RFC – Foundation Defence – Dunfermline RFC

U18 & Senior Teams – ‘Developing Defence’, free:
Monday 30th October – Developing Defence – Stirling (Forthbank)

Coaching Micro Rugby, free:
Sunday 5th November – Coaching Micro Rugby – Stirling County RFC

This weekend’s Action:

Saturday:

1st XV: Home to Kinross, with a 3pm kick off.

Sunday:

Tigers (P1 & P2): Home training 1000-1130.
Juniors (P3 to P7): Home training – please meet in Tilly Park at 1000 for a 1030 kick off.
Youth (S1-S2): The Youth (S1 and S2) are joint training with Falkirk at home – please meet in Tilly Park at 1000 for a 1030 kick off.

Hillfoots Weekly News 6 October