First year Uddingston 0-33 Helensburgh Helensburgh and Lomond travelled across to Uddingston for a sunny Mothers’ Day play-off.

From the start, Helensburgh were able to dominate with James Johnston on the left wing scoring the first quick try.

With the forwards winning their scrums and good running by the backs, more tries followed by Adam Scott and Nick Fish. Unfortunately after some hard work, Greg MacCalman had to leave the field having broken his elbow only yards from the Uddingston line.

With play continuing, Uddingston kept up their defence, winning the ball well from tackles, but Burgh were able to run in further tries from Adam, Ben Farrar, Charlie Barton and Nick to take the score to 33-0 at the final whistle, with nine tries and six conversions by Conn Mundie.

GHK TOURNAMENT Burgh minis travelled away to Glasgow High Kelvinside in the GHK Tournament where they were pooled to play West of Scotland, Ayr and GHK (primary six faced Accies instead of GHK).

Primary three First up was a match against a strong Ayr team that began in ominous fashion with the Greens quickly falling 2-0 behind. However, the team showed some great resolve and a neat break from Magnus lead to Sophie scoring Burgh’s first try of the day. Despite going close to a levelling try the game finished 2-1 to Ayr.

Last week the primary threes lost to West, this weekend’s repeat match saw a close game with the Greens twice coming from behind to earn a well deserved 2-2 draw with tries from Magnus and Conner, while David nearly scored a spectacular length of the pitch try making a great break from his own try line only to be tackled a few metres short of scoring as the game finished 2-2.

The team’s final match, against GHK, was the highlight of the day with the Greens running out 2-1 winners. Good running from Gethin, Alex and Andrew and some good tackling from Fergus and Tom helped, along with much improved passing and teamwork. Connor and Magnus were the try scorers in a well deserved win.

Primary four The primary fours got off to a tough start, facing Ayr in their first match. Heather, Robbie and Thomas tackled well in the loose and this allowed the rest of the team to ruck over the breakdown and to get the ball out into the space on the wing to ensure a 6-2 win for the Burgh with scores from Heather, Finlay and T-Jay (four).

The second game was against West of Scotland, all the work at training came good as the team supported each other well at every breakdown with Joy, George and Casey driving over the ball to set up a great platform to move forward. Changes at half time did not effect the team’s desire to go forward and the final score was Burgh 4-2 West of Scotland with scores from Robbie, Heather and T-Jay (two).

The team’s final match was against hosts GHK and as they had also won their first two matches the winner would progress to the final.

Burgh scored first and tried hard to work the ball into the spaces to set speedy T-Jay free for another touch line hugging sprint up the wing. However, he was closely marked and at half time the score was tied at one try each. Despite some great defensive tackling from Kathryn, Finlay and Christopher, GHK got the upper hand and progressed to the final with a 3-1 win.

Primary six The first game in the group stages was against Ayr, who posed a good test with both sides trying to pass the ball away from the breakdown for their faster runners to take on the defence. Callum MacGillivary, Ruaridh Fletcher, Oscar Thomas and Cameron Cromar proved too much with some great runs helping their side with a very satisfying 6–4 Helensburgh win.

The second game, against West of Scotland, saw the Helensburgh primary six side suffer an uncharacteristic 5–1 defeat. West won the game by exploiting the weaknesses in the Helensburgh defence and capitalising on a lot of dropped ball. A late try by Thomas Mackay was small consolation for a side who deserved more.

The third and last game, against Glasgow Academicals, was a very different affair played in good spirits, neither side could progress to the final so it was all about pride. Alasdair Murray enjoyed space on the wing with Danny Kennedy getting in amongst the ruck to free the ball.

There was some champagne rugby played with Eilidh Burnett and Ian Fulton passing the ball into space culminating in Oscar Thomas flicking the ball between his legs in basketball fashion for Callum McGillivary to run up the sideline, much to the delight of the spectators.

There was some standout tackling by Eoghain Adkins and Callum Gray who both seemed to relish in felling the opposition’s bigger players and helped to ensure a 5–3 win for Helensburgh.

Primary seven First up was an impressive Ayr side in a match where the Helensburgh kids rucked well, ran hard and tackled for all they were worth but Ayr’s size and strength proved too much for the Burgh youngsters.

Next up Burgh faced West of Scotland and the story above was pretty much repeated with the big West team battering Burgh up the middle and some good runners out wide scoring the tries.

After only a couple of minutes rest after the West game was GHK and although Helensburgh fronted up manfully, injuries to Lewis and Connor didnt help our cause and GHK ran out winners knowing, however, they’d been in a tough game.