Sharks at Union Park

Today saw a school of sharks come to Montrose - Strathy Sharks from Forfar.

With over 100 children taking part from P1 to P7, it was a fantastic display of rugby from all age groups. Well done to everyone who played for Montrose and it was great to see everyone using what they have been learning in training.

The clubhouse was also buzzing with serviing of teas, coffees, sausage rolls and the now famous Traa fairy cakes.

Training next week, see you there!

Micros in Action

Diving for a tag

Fair play from the Micros

Great offload from P4/5

Strong defensive line from the P4/5s

P6/7 huddle

P6/7s in action

Good start to the Senior Season

Montrose 1st XV made a great start to their 09/10 season with a 19-12 win away to Waid Academy FP. Next week, they will be playing at Atholl in Pitlochry and the first home game of the season will be on Saturday 12th September against Carnoustie with a 15.00 kick-off. Minis and their families are more than welcome to come along and support the Mighty Mo'.

Full details of the 1st XV fixtures can be found here.

Montrose Player meets the National Squad

The Scotland squad held an open training session today in St Andrews. As well as watching the session, spectators were able to meet the Scotland players. Montrose Micro Cameron attended the session and gathered loads of signatures.

Jason White meeting Montrose star Cameron

No gumshield - No play!

Please note that the policy at Montrose Junior Rugby is that all players need to have a gumshield for both training and matches. The gumshield has to be worn for anything involving contact, not just kept in your pocket! While a gumshield may feel strange to start with, it is as important as a pair of boots. As well as protecting your teeth, gumshields can help limit concussion.

You may want to consider a dentist-fitted gumshield. However, if you are still losing teeth and you are growing, a well-fitted 'boil and fit' gumshield may be enough. We have basic ones at the club or you can buy a junior or adult gumshields, such as Shock Doctor, from the sports shop on Murray Street or Argos.

If you want to find out more about gumshileds, please speak to your dentist.

First Aid Refill

Prior to the start of the 09/10 Season, we have been had a generous donation from Montrose Osteopathy. Following on from their generous donation of first aid kits, they have replaced all items used by Minis, S1/2 and U15s.

A big thank you to the Watsons and you can find out more about Montrose Osteopathy here.

If anyone else would like to support Montrose Junior Rugby, either through direct donations or sponsorship, please get in touch.

Montrose has four more Level 1 coaches

Scottish Rugby held their first UKCC Level 1 coaching course in Montrose this weekend. Sixteen coaches attended the three day course, which was led by Doc McKelvey, Scottish Rugby Development Manager, supported by Rugby Development Officers Stewart Ross (Angus) and Paul Hunter (Fife). As well as coaches from Montrose, representatives came from across Scotland and one travelled from Italy to attend!

We are delighted that four of our coaches completed the course: Callum Ruxton, Caroline Campbell, Mike Roulston and Sam Grove-White. Well done to all of them.

Montrose's new Level 1 coaches with Doc, Stewart and Paul

Montrose Players Meet Edinburgh

Four players from Montrose Junior Rugby attended a training camp in St Andrews, organised by Edinburgh Rugby. The purpose of the day was for junior rugby players from Tayside and Fife to pick up new skills.

The Edinburgh players led the coaching and at the end of the session, the Montrose players met the Edinburgh squad, including Scotland stars Mike Blair, Phil Godman and Ross Ford.

The Montrose players with Edinburgh and Scotland stand-off Phil Godman

Development Day

Stewart Ross, Angus Rugby Development Officer, ran a development day for P4 to S2 players at Montrose. We had over twenty players and the weather was far better than the previous week!

Thanks to Stewart for organising the day.

Minis at the Donkey Derby

Montrose Minis were invited to put on a demonstration at this year's Donkey Derby. We put on some drills and then played both tag and full-contact rugby. We also had a stall with the large inflatable rugby posts for people to try their luck at conversions.

A huge thank you to everyone that came along to play and show off their skills on Sunday at the Donkey Derby. You were all fantastic ambassadors for Montrose Junior Rugby.

Unusual training obstacles

Fancy footwork

He's not a Mini

Our retail arm

Micros at Brechin Pageant

Six Montrose players turned up at the Brechin Pageant. We found the Brechin team behind their own stand on the edge of the park and joined them in some warm up games. Brechin slightly outnumbered us and leant us one player.

The two teams entered the arena together with Brechin taking the kick off. Both sides turned out an excellent exhibition match of micros rugby. The game was full of passes with both sides supporting their ball carriers well. Overall it was a flowing running game with good trys scored at each end. The match was well received by the crowd with the teams getting well deserved cheers and applause at the end of a very sporting game.

The P3's then had a exhibition game of contact rugby and finally there was a match by the older Brechin boys, who were also conscripted into a keep fit demo marked by the complete lack of involvement by the coaches.

Thank you to Adam, Ben, Christopher, Iain, James and Tim for representing Montrose so well. Also thanks to Richard for coordinating the day.