15 September 16th 2012

With the match points secured before the squad even left Peebles for their trip to Duns the U16s were looking forward to playing a friendly match that would allow them to experiment with positions and improve their tactics on the pitch.

On arrival at Duns however, we discovered that the host club had been decimated by last minute call-offs leaving them with only 8 players. After some positive thinking from the back room staff of both sides, all of the Peebles substitutes, in the true spirit of the game, swopped jerseys and become Duns players for the day. Needless to say this upped the stakes a wee bit and what started out as a friendly very quickly became a highly competitive but very fair match.

Peebles took a five point lead thanks to a ‘Usain Bolt’ like sprint from Willie Napier who must have covered half the pitch in record time pursued by the entire Duns defensive line, and the Peebles pack in full support. However this lead didn’t last too long as Duns rallied well and put two tries on the board in rapid succession, to lead 10 -5 at half time.

Ryan Morrison’s driving role in the pack was rewarded with a try to level the scores but Duns regained the lead shortly afterwards, with some considerable help from their Peebles recruits.

However all of the hard work that our squad have endured at their Hay Lodge training sessions paid dividends with a series of powerful drives culminating in a try from Stuart Blackie – this ensured that honours were shared when the referee blew for full time. The wind obviously played havoc with the kickers from both sides as none of the tries were converted!