The Hills Blog

Rewind to a week past Saturday and all was going well, then away again, to Dunfermline, on Saturday and the win slips away…
Home to Ardrossan the boys played well, not a great turn out from the Hughenden massive, scared of the liquid sunshine maybes, but a good show put on for those who did appear, with the 1st XV winning 45-7 on the big pitch and the Hippos winning by lots on the back pitch. Unfortunately it did mostly rain so the newsteam, being soluble, and wearing flipflops, had to stay on the relative safety of the concrete under a big umbrella and could only view the Hippos game from afar.
The best umbrella on show was a nice big rainbow coloured number sported by A. Lady.
It was quite a long time ago now so I can’t remember many specific events, but newish hooker Hazzy was chosen one of the week, he had a good game showing off his fitness in support, good pace and positioning in the loose, and good hands getting the ball moving quickly, keeping Ardrossan on the back foot.
Also notable was return of Stuart Rose from the US of A, looking as tanned and healthy as only a ginger can, who came off the bench in the second half to great cheers, and the odd wolf-whistle from the Hughenden crowd. Good to see him back.
Keith was visibly overjoyed with the boys win.
Other notable performances were from Ally Jamieson, who despite his advancing years is still pretty quick, and has been putting on a pretty good show. Cammy Kerr looking solid as ever in the back row, has been looking particularly trim and dynamic in the first few games. Back in the Captain slot this year, here’s hoping he can do something to rally the troops away from home.
Saturday sees the boys 1XV and 2XV back at Fortress Hughenden to play Garnock, good luck for that, hoping the crowds turn out to watch.
Saturday night sees the inaugural Little Miss Hughenden event- a show not to be missed, which is shrouded in a world of mystery…so get yourselves down to Hughenden, on Saturday, at some unspecified time, with as much cash as you can carry for there are sure to be fantabulous “Ladies” to spend it on.
Carry the festivities over to Sunday when the ladies host Murrayfield Wanderers at home, hoping to kick the season off with a win, with a few new faces and changes in the team it should be an exciting game, they could do with some vocal home support. Guest host Cahoon is in charge as Kitch is donning his Lederhosen for a trip to the Sound of Music in London, because his daughter wants to go. Apparently.
Shouts of, “Daddy, I don’t want to watch the singing church lady again!” are heard echoing across the fields of Lenzie from time to time.
But we believe you Kitch, really we do.

Sunday sees the return of the Hills Ladies with a critical opener against last years champions Murrayfield Wanderers. The girls have been in fine form over the summer pushing the boys all the way in pre-season and are hoping to recreate the form that saw them being the only side to beat Murrayfield  last year in a pulsating match which finished 25-22 in Hills favour.

Unfortunately Coach Kitch is unable to attend to match and so at the helm for one match only will be ladies favourite Cahoon. First choice was Keithy who orchestrated the victory over Murrayfield at the end of last season but he registered himself unavailable due to the fact that ‘angry Keith face’ doesn’t work with the girls.

 So what better way to get over your Miss Hughenden hangovers than a spot of Sunday rugby? Kick off is 2pm.

Among things that have become apparent since my confinement to the sidelines are these:
1 When it’s not essential, I’m not very good at being on time.
2 I’m not a very good reporter of rugby- I only ever remember little snippets, have no idea what order they happened in and mostly don’t notice far away things.

So this won’t be so much a match report as a collection of things that may have happened, at some point after half time, along the left-hand side of the pitch.

The 1st XV off to a flyer for the new season, looking good back in quarters, though some still having trouble picking shorts that fit. It’s all about streamlining guys: too long/ too baggy could be your downfall. Still, the quarters definitely out shone the angry men in pink from Falkirk.

“Orange boots” on the right wing is the chosen one of the week (partly because we didn’t know who he was…). With good chat in defence, top notch cover tackling, some serious pace on the wing, shiny bright orange boots, and good linkage with Dan “the man who can” to score towards the end of the second half, we were mightily impressed. Though “What’s all this about Orange Boots? It didn’t look like he did that much on the video…” was heard from one source. She stands corrected.

Reports that he was to be seen bench-pressing ladies in the bar later in the evening, dressed in an assortment of other people’s clothes, have not, as yet, been confirmed. Similar reports that Orange Boots is not in fact his given name have also been floating around…answers on a post card please.

Also noticed was great tackling from ever present Stuart Ross, rock-steady cover defence from Gus at the back, and good work around the break down from David at scrum half. Pre-season fitness work was on show among the forwards with organised, aggressive defence. Good game to watch, should be an exciting season. Coach Keith was reportedly happy on the inside, and will be saving the angry Keith face for another day. Phew…

Post match, Bernie Mitchell, back on form roping poor innocents into doing work for him, was seen brandishing a tray of sandwiches at a man of advancing years who, under duress we suspect, was later seen circling the bar, struggling under the weight of the tray, forcing sandwiches on all present.

In other news, a heavyweight brawl nearly began in the queue for pasta as David Armstrong valiantly tried to strong arm Cammy “unwaged till Monday” McCulloch into paying proper grown-up subs. News team had to leave before it got messy, but suspect that’s another few pounds on the Hughenden debt…

Good luck to 1st XV at Morgan on Saturday. This week the non-travelling support will attempt to watch bits of 2nd XV and Hughenden entertaining Hamilton and Cowal at fortress Hughenden.