Our College 1st xv travelled up the 77 on Tuesday afternoon to take on High School of Glasgow at Old Anniesland in the Quarter Final of the Scottish Schools Cup. Having already met during the L200 Conference earlier in the season we suffered a 40-24 defeat so the boys were fully aware of the threats HSOG posed especially in the backs.

Match Report

First Half
Marr had clearly prepared well and came firing out the blocks with a try in the first 10 minutes, having gone through a number of phases and worked their way into HSOG territory Marr Scrum Half Jenson Cameron picked up at the base of the ruck and sniped around the fringes cruising in for Marr's opening try which was expertly converted by Stand Off Calum Inglis. Marr didn't let up there only a few minutes later Harry Murray leaped highest in the line out to take the ball one handed and set another Marr attack in motion, only a few phases later Murray was back on the ball breaking a tackle and leaving up a delightful one handed offload for Full Back David Craig to crash onto and go in for a fantastic score. Again Inglis was on point with the conversion. Marr continued to push forward through some big carries from Captain Scott Rodger and lock Cameron MacKenzie, they earned a penalty about 30 metres from goal in the middle of the field and up stepped Calum Inglis to bang it over for 17-0 lead. High School of Glasgow started to get a foothold in the game and always looked dangerous with the ball in hand, they clawed a try back with 30 minutes on the clock but the conversion was missed.

Second Half
Almost as soon as the Second Half whistle went Marr found themselves under pressure defending their own line, bodies were being put on the line with some huge hits going in to keep HSOG out. Josh Affleck, Blair Nicholl and Keiran McCann with notable pieces of defence along with the rest of the pack. When Marr spotted a breakdown which was rather lightly occupied by the Home side they jumped on the opportunity to win the ball back with a massive counter ruck and they managed to clear their lines. Following this exceptional passage of defence Marr jumped at the opportunity to go on the attack and made their way to just outside the HSOG 22 when the Home side conceded a penalty. Calum Inglis called for the tee and up he stepped to add another 3 points for Marr. With the score now at 20-5 the High School of Glasgow boys really up their game and started spraying the ball about the field through their classy backs but Marr always seemed to have an extra body to make the tackle. For the next 15 minutes the game remained in the balance with Marr exploiting space in the HSOG backfield through the cultured kicking of Inglis and Nairn Calder which continually turned the opposition and forced Home lineouts which Harry Murray was terrorising! With 10 minutes to play the HSOG 12 fielded a long Inglis kicked and used superb footwork and a powerful fend to get on the outside of the Marr defence and then it was a footrace, he showed the pace to make it into the left corner. The same player then stepped up and smashed over the touchline conversion to make the score 20-12 with 9 minutes on the clock. The Home players now had their tails up and mounted numerous raids into the Marr half which were continually repelled, Marr had the superiority at the Scrum and were surely cursing the 1.5 metre push rule in U18 rugby as they constantly shunted the HSOG pack but with a Scrum inside the Marr 22 they managed to get the ball to their blacks and their outside centre on this occasion crashed over for the try. The conversion was missed and as the ball sailed wide the referee blew the whistle for Full Time and the boys had done it.

An absolutely incredible display from the boys, their attitude and work rate was incredible. The game plan put in place by coaches Gregor Ness and Rory McGee was executed perfectly and had paid off.

Head Coach Gregor Ness was full of praise for his charges following the game:
"We knew this was going to be an incredibly difficult place to come and get a result, High School have been playing really well and we have already seen first hand what they can do when we met in the Conference earlier in the year and their result against Merchiston Castle in the previous round suggested they were playing really well. We took a lot of learning's from our previous meeting and understood where their strengths were and I think we nullified them pretty well. Our kicking game in the second half was brilliant, pinning them back and going to lineout where Harry Murray was excelling. I thought up front Scott Rodger was immense he led from the front in attack with powerful ball carrying and defended tirelessly, Cameron MacKenzie put in a huge shift in the engine room and Kieran McCann's defensive display was huge. In the backs Jenson Cameron was a constant threat around the ruck and provided superb service to his backline, Calum Inglis controlled the game really well and kicked all his goals which proved the difference."

Marr College are the first State School to make it to the Semi Final stage of the competition since Bell Baxter back in 2007. We have reached the Quarters in 2010 & 2018 but this years squad have gone one better. With George Watson's and Stewart Melville also progressing yesterday and Edinburgh Academy and Fettes College battling it out in the last of the quarters today, another massive challenge will await in the Semi whoever we get.

This is yet another example of the Marr College conveyor belt producing success. A massive amount of credit needs to go to Head Coach Gregor Ness and Assistant Coach Rory McGee, both Marr 1st xv centurions who are passing on their knowledge to the new crop of talent. There is little doubt that we will see a number of these boys go onto represent Marr RFC at senior level in the not to distant future.

U18 Squad v High School of Glasgow
1 Liam Morrison
2 Blair Nicholl
3 Scott Rodger
4 Cameron Mackenzie
5 Harry Murray
6 Josh Affleck
7 Thomas Miller
8 Kieran McCann
9 Jenson Cameron
10 Calum Inglis
11 Shaun Smith
12 Scott Toner
13 Nairn Calder
14 Logan Cotter
15 David Craig
16 Allan Blyth
17 Gregor Murray
18 Jack Dunsmuir
19 Scott Grassom
20 Khai Davidson