Marr Rugby club stay on course for promotion

Mar 25 2011 by Mike WIlson, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

MARR rugby club’s promotion hopes remain intact after they avoided one of the biggest banana skins of the season.

The Troon side maintained their lead at the top of National League 3, following an impressive display against Helensburgh that earned a vital bonus point win.

Penalties were conceded by both sides early on and after 15 minutes the stalemate was broken when Rory McGee slotted over from a reasonable angle to put Marr in front.

But Helensburgh responded and though their attacks rarely threatened the ‘red’ zone they made the most of penalty awards to lead 9-3.

However, Marr were rewarded for their effort and it was the forwards who began to excel and take the edge, leading to a sustained assault on the Helensburgh line that ended with Brett Box taking route one through a ruck to cross the line from close range and conclude the first period with a Marr single point lead.

Box claimed try number two to stretch Marr’s lead shortly after the restart as the Troon forwards maintained their edge.

Helensburgh continued to fight and following a penalty, they bagged their only try, when a cross kick was poorly defended and left the only question – who would latch on and score.

But Marr hit back with further scores from Rory McGee’s boot, supplemented by tries from Steven Kirk and Scott Bickerstaff to round off a great win.

Meanwhile on the top pitch, the seconds continued to dominate their league with a whitewash over Allan Glenn’s, winning 92 – 0.

The 2’s are now 17 from 17, 674 points for and only 76 against.

So it was a great Saturday for Marr Rugby that was made even better with the news of recognition of the potential of some of Marr College’s efforts and products, with Tony Boyd and Darcy Rae’s progress into the national U17 age group.

The weekend saw Marr College 1st XV and U16s defeat St. Columbas by 45-17 and 33-0 respectively.

The S3s result against Crew & Nantwich was a 12-12 draw and the icing on the cake was a clean sweep at the Kelso tournament at mini level.