The Latest News from Calder Rugby
Calder Rugby News
25/05/06 -
Calder joins the SRU as its newest Club, and enters the Regional West league.
25/05/06 -
a new help-line number has been set up to make it easier for people to join Calder.
0845 37 07 950 - calls are charged as a local call
Supporters get involved in a charity day for Erskine
Hospital....
at the Clay Pigeon shooting
A new email recruitment contact has been set up too - joinus@calderrfc.org
NEWS RELEASE - SUNDAY 3 SEPTEMBER 2006
Newly formed Calder RFC entertained Cowal at Bellshill Academy Playing Fields on Saturday and claimed their first league victory. At a time when many clubs struggle to even raise a team the league newcomers took great satisfaction from their 41-10 win.
Sponsorship from Cala Homes coupled with the mass of experience and direction offered by Eddie Briggs as tactical director puts the club in a competitive position for the remainder of the season. Perhaps overbearing anticipation of the pending season caused the early mistakes which saw the breakdown of the Calder line out and a host of handling errors. The psychological effect of these mistakes were somewhat settled when Full Back Brian McMillan finished off a well worked backs move in the corner. This was the beginning of what would turn out to be a successful afternoon for McMillan. Captain Calum Blackstock scored in the corner soon after and with both tries being converted from the touchline. Shortly after Neil Hearty contributed to the positive play by bobbing and weaving past 4 opposition players duly passing to Calum Blackstock who completed the move by scoring in the corner. However on this occasion the conversion was missed. Calders last score of the half was from a penalty, awarded when inside centre Dominic MacKay was tackled late in front of the posts. Scrum half Ross Whitehill duly converted and as if to gain more recognition for his efforts he hit distracted substitute Alan Gordon on the head with the kicking tee when throwing it back to the touch line! This brought the score to 22-0 to Calder at half time. Having been spurred on by their half time talk, it was an aggressive Cowal team which sought the first score of the second half. For a full 15 minutes Cowal battered the Calder defensive line working through their forwards gaining a penalty and converted try for their efforts. This brought them right back into the game with 20 minutes to play. Calder Full Back Brian McMillan stepped up to the mark and scored 3 more tries in the remaining time. Whitehill converted 2 of them and the score line at the final whistle was 41-10.
The next fixture for Calder is an away trip to Linwood this coming Saturday with kick off at 3pm. Further information: Calder RFC is the newest club affiliated to the S.R.U. (Scottish Rugby Union) and the only new club this year. Formed with the drive of local charity Active4All, it welcomes new players, whether they have played rugby before or not. Its name came from the area it serves - ie the area around the River Calder - and the Club use the Douglas Clan badge and motto "Jamais Arriere" - Never Behind. The team played 2 friendly fixtures, both of which theywon, and this league game was only their 3rd game as a team. They have lived up to the motto as they took first place in the SRU Western West 3 League, having both won the match and gained a bonus point. The team photograph, as all photographs attached, were taken by Colin Rutherford. They show the new Calder strip, proudly showing the colours of the Douglas Clan; together with main sponsors - Cala Homes ; and sponsors Castle Bar in Uddingston and Datagen Ltd.
LINWOOD V CALDER 9 SEPTEMBER MATCH REPORT
Calder RFC maintained their unbeaten record against Linwood in their first away fixture of the league campaign winning 37-10 and stretching their lead at the top of the league with a maximum 10 points. The early stages of the game were dominated by aggressive forward play from both sides. Ball possession fluctuated between the teams as both packs tried to stamp their authority on the game. It was from a series of these forward plays that Scrum Half Brian McMillan opened the scoring after a gap opened up in the side of a ruck. Recovering possession from a loose ball McMilllan ran from the half way line to score under the posts out pacing three defenders on the way. He converted his own try and added another three points with the boot shortly after when Calder were awarded a penalty in front of the posts for foul play. Captain Calum Blackstock took the score to 17-0 when he scored a fantastic individual effort from his own half. Coming from the Full Back position at pace Blackstock took the ball from midfield escaping though a couple of attempted tackles to find himself with a clear run in to the try line. McMillan converted Blackstocks try but failed to convert his own when shortly after he scored at try out wide. Continual Calder pressure on Linwood meant that they conceded a scrum from a knock-on deep inside their own half. Picking up from the base of the scrum McMillan ran towards the corner in a straight race for the line with his opposite number. McMillan won the race but unfortunately did not get as good a position for the conversion as previously and missed the opportunity to add points. However he made up for this by successfully converting a penalty awarded just before the half time whistle. McMillan continued his blistering form immediately in the second half finishing a well worked backs move in the corner taking the score to 30-0. Neil Hearty showed good awareness and speed to finish under the posts. Eager to relieve the pressure on them Linwood kicked to touch. The kick never found touch and was retrieved by Hearty who immediately ran for space. Although he had support with him on his run Hearty was confident enough to take the ball on himself scoring under posts. The conversion was duly kicked by McMillan which completed Calders scoring for the afternoon. For the remainder of the half Linwood dominated the play through their forwards and pinned Calder back to their own half. Working effectively as a unit Linwood scored 2 tries against Calder in the remaining minutes when the Calder defence was beginning to look weary bringing the final score to 37-10. Linwood failed to get the 2 conversions missing the posts widely on both occasions.
This Saturday, Calder greet Mid-Argyll at Bellshill Academy for their third league game and will be looking to maintain their position at the top of West League 3. Kick off is at 3pm, and all are welcome to come along and enjoy the match
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