February 17th saw nine players cosy up together on a mini-bus headed to sunny St Andrew’s for the 10s Development Tournament. Short one player for 10s, the squad joined forces with Edinburgh Napier to make up a formidable combined Edinburgh side.
Following an intense clash between the Edinburgh rivals just days prior, the two teams banded together and immediately created some great attacking phases right from the first kick off against Abertay University. This quickly led to Alex Sehgal’s opening try of the tournament and set the tone for the rest of the day.
Match two was tougher against St Andrews straight after our first win. A solid second half saw our young side come from behind to hold the hosts to a 10-10 draw.
Match three against Abertay was a true showcase of the new talent at the club as the developmental players were handed pivotal roles. Strong attacking performances from Lucy, Coline, Frankie, Neve and Mathilde with defensive work from Vicky steered the team to a solid win going into our final match of the day.
The last match was the second against St Andrews and there was everything to play for. Once again, the team went into the break behind on the scoreboard but put together a strong second half, managing to keep the hosts from crossing the try line. A dominant performance led to a final 27-10 win of the day!
Three convincing wins and a draw saw the team crowned tournament champions with Maja Hauan winning Edinburgh’s player of the day.
The team were also rewarded with a trip to Janetta’s ice cream parlour on there way home.
Overall the tournament saw plenty of big tackles, swift line breaks and awesome tries from the entire team. Despite the relative inexperience the team showed some excellent skills and maturity under pressure.
The team would like to thank the Napier players for joining up with us and, of course, a big thank you to our fantastic van driver, Gordon Lyon,
who got us there and back safely… although the same cannot be said for a couple of curbs along the way!
The future is looking very bright for EULRFC!!