HJRFC’s AGM will be held at 7.00pm on Tuesday 7th May 2019 at Hillhead Sports Club
Nominations are requested for those wishing to be officiate in leading roles in the Committee. In particular nominations are being sought for the positions of President, Treasurer and Secretary. Nominations should be sent to the Club Secretary, Hunter Kirkpatrick by email to h.kirkpatrick@armour.co.uk no later than Tuesday 30th April.
The SRU player registration process and system has changed for this season. Every player, or parent / guardian for players Under 18, has to log into the new SRU registration system, SCRUMS, search for their details and verify them or add their details if not already there.
This is a new requirement in the past these details were entered into the previous registration system by club volunteers.
This link takes you to the login screen for SRU registration system, SCRUMS.
https://scrums.scottishrugby.org/login
The link below takes you to the part of the SRU website where all the training material and guidance for the new SCRUMS system is published.
Please look at either the Registration Guide or the Registration Guide Youth Players (for parents) as appropriate.
http://www.scottishrugby.org/domestic-rugby/club-services/scrums-management-system
Once complete you will receive an automated message from SCRUMS to confirm that the email address provided is a valid one. This email will request the player / parent to click on a link to verify their email address.
Players will be unable to play league or cup fixtures without being first registered as an active player in the SRU registration system SCRUMS and of course be a member of the Club.
Membership of the club is a sperate task from SRU registration. You can join online by following the link below:
http://www.hillheadsportsclub.com/membership/
Please register now
Thanks for your help
Andy Scott
President, Hillhead Jordanhill RFC
Growing older has occasionally some benefits. One of these is the appreciation that your days of attending rugby preseason training and thereby feeling the vivifying muscle pain, not only the morning after your first session, but also of the second day are now firmly behind you.
Instead, visiting a pre-season session at Hughenden allows an insight into the fact that today’s players are better equipped to undertake and withstand the rigours of conditioning activities than their predecessors were some years ago.
Training began on Thursday the 12th July at Hughenden for Hills 2018-19 season and coaches, Dean Kelbrick and Graeme Blackhall, had some 35 players to put through an eighty minute session, interspersed with frequent water breaks. It was encouraging to note and welcome many new faces to the club, along with the well established Rorys, Dans, Harrys, Prestons and Ryans.
We have room for plenty more at our next session on Tuesday 17th and thereafter every Thursday and Tuesday. Players are expected at18.45 to prepare for the real action which starts at 19.00 PROMPT. Please bring your water bottle along with you : “top up with tap water”
This weekend there will again be four senior teams representing Hillhead Jordanhill and that is without the Men’s 2XV or Women’s 2XV being in action. The U15 Girls will also be taking on Caithness in the semi final of their cup competition. This is a considerable feat of organisation and a testament to all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes at the club. Particularly so, when you compare the number of senior teams our nearest neighbours put out. Your correspondent is in the midst of a UKCC Level 1 coaching qualification, being hosted at Hughenden, where one of the key themes is how we keep players in the game long term. For Hillhead Jordanhill, with the progress being made in the Mini and Midi sections, the future on that front must surely be bright! Now, to the weekends action!
20th April
Stirling County v Hillhead Jordanhill Women’s 1XV – KO 20:00 at Bridgehaugh, Stirling
21st April
Hillhead Jordanhill Men’s 1XV v Newton Stewart – KO 15:00 at Hughenden
Greenock Wanderers 2XV v Hillhead Jordanhill 2A – KO 15:00 at Fort Matilda playing fields, Greenock
Cartha Queens Park Veterans v Hillhead Jordanhill 4XV (Veterans) – KO 12:30 at Dumbreck
22nd April
Hillhead Jordanhill U15 v Caithness -KO 13:00 at Hughenden
The HillJills take on Stirling County in their final league match of the season. This will be the ladies last competitive fixture before the final of the Sarah Beaney Cup. The two sides last met on 26th January, with the HillJills running out comfortable winners in a 79 – 5 win at Hughenden. The league title was secured the same evening. The coaches will no doubt be looking for an assured performance to help prepare for the cup final. Coach Thomas Davidson should also be congratulated for his recent award as Stirling University Sports Coach of the Year. The two student teams under his watchful eye have both won their respective leagues. With a league win for the HillJills also under his coaching belt at Hughenden, a win in the Cup must surely be high on the wishlist to finish the season in style!
Silver Saturday, featuring the Sarah Beaney Cup, will take place on Saturday 28th April at BT Murrayfield. The ladies cup final will kick off at 14:10, on the main international pitch. Tickets are £20 for Adults, £10 for concessions, and £5 for Under-18s. You can support the club by purchasing your tickets for Silver Saturday via this link, https://www.eticketing.co.uk/scottishrugby/?advcode=HillJor.
As this is the final match for the Men’s 1XV, it seems like an apt time to reflect on how far the team has come on. Last season the Men’s 1XV finished dead last in National 2. With no league wins to their name, the team scored a total of 229 points and conceded 1052. A points differential of -823. No try bonus points were won, with only 1 losing bonus point obtained in their 22 league matches. This meant the team finished on 1 point for the season.
Going into their final league match of the 2017/18 season, the Men’s 1XV sit 8th in National 3. The team has obtained 45 points. Out of 21 league matches played, the team has won 8 and lost 12. They have scored 396 points, conceding 580. A points differential of -184. Try bonus points have totalled 7, with losing bonus points coming in at 2. As it stands, the team is sitting on a points tally of 45.
If ever recognition for a steadying set of hands was deserved, coaches Dean Kelbrick and Graeme Blackhall are two worthy candidates. The number of points scored has increased by over 70% and the number of points conceded has been reduced by over 40%. No mean feat considering where the team was at the end of last season.
Our opponents this Saturday are Newton Stewart. The last meeting of these two sides resulted in a comfortable 45 – 3 win for Newton at home. They currently sit 4th in National 2, knowing that two bonus wins in their last two matches will keep them in the hunt for promotion. This will be a challenging match for Hills, no doubt about it.
With two matches to go in West Reserve League 2, the Hills 2A squad will be pushing to finish as high up the table as possible. Of 18 matches played, the team has conceded only one due to not being able to field a team. Compare this to the rest of the league and you won’t find a club with anywhere near as good a record. For this reason, many of the other teams in the league have as many as six matches still to play. This means Hills won’t know their final league position for some weeks. However, they will be keen to finish strongly. Hills beat Greenock Wanderers 62 – 20 at Hughenden, so expectations for a similar result will be high.
After a hugely successful rebirth of the 4XV in January, another invite from Cartha Queens Park RFC has been received to get the old boys of the sofa for a few hours. Hector MacIntyre has been putting together a motley crew of Hills legends in the last few weeks. Hills ran out winners last time round, 17 – 45. Rumour has it that the infamous Jimmy Gow could be making an appearance, who knows how that could affect the result on Saturday!
28th April | Silver Saturday, featuring the HillJills v Watsonians – KO 14:10 at BT Murrayfield
30th April | Hillhead Jordanhill RFC AGM – 19:00 in the Yill Hoose at Hillhead Sports Club
4th May | End of Season Dinner – 19:00 at Hillhead Sports Club. Tickets available at training from Dougie Grove and Sarah Smith or by email from Dougie on grovedougie@gmail.com
6th May | Hills Legends Lunch, 12:30 at Hillhead Sports Club. Our annual celebration of Hills legends, get your tickets from John MacLean on jnm@kelvinassociates.co.uk
We are pleased to announce that we will be working with local supplier PSL Team Sports (Provan Sports Ltd.) who will be supplying us with Canterbury kit and merchandise from Summer onwards. PSL are located in Hillington, Glasgow and have a retail premises where you will be able to try on all kit and merchandise before purchasing.
Members of HJRFC will be entitled to a 10% discount on all non-club merchandise such as; boots, SRU clothing (Scottish Rugby, Glasgow Warriors & Edinburgh Rugby), protection wear and more.
Further details will be made available to members soon. If you have any suggestions or requests for off the field merchandise then please email Grant Payne at merchandise@hjrfc.com.
Owen Gemmell, Men’s 1st XV Captain
Louise McMillan our Women’s 1st XV Co-Captain returned from Italy yesterday with our Women’s Six Nations squad – alongside Sister, Siobhan McMillan and HJRFC team mates, Lindsey Smith & Hannah Smith (not siblings). She had the following to say on the appointment of PSL as our new supplier:
Please feel free to browse PSL’s website to view their range of goods, our club shop will be online Summer 2018:
Hillhead Jordanhill 2A XV 17 – Dalziel 3XV 14
Saturday saw a strong Hills 2A’s side host Dalziel in repeat of the close November encounter which saw Hills overcome Dalziel 31-33 away. After the previous week’s fixture with Greenock postponed due to flooded pitch, Hughenden was fortunate to enjoy excellent playing conditions this time round.
In the opening exchanges of the game it was Dalziel who demonstrated a greater physicality and managed to keep ball tight to the pack to maintain the initial possession advantage. However it was Hills that looked more dangerous ball-in-hand with some great runs in open play from both wing-forwards and a feisty Fergus Denton at 8. The midfield partnership of Euan McMahon and Ben Chaddock had pretty lean ball in opening quarter but made some good carries and distributed well to a strong back line after an excellent break from scrum-half Dean Campbell Drummond sent Dalziel defense scrambling. Some quick hands off the ruck finally managed to connect a flying Andy Bolster who duly held his man to put William Murphy away in the corner for the first score of the game.
However Hills failed to capitalize on the score and after many punishing phases Dalziel had won their way to 5 meters out and took advantage with a pick and go to ground behind the Hills posts.
Hills appeared to be in the ascendancy again before the break and in the next phase of possession Tom Donaldson tried to capitalize on a stretched defense with a cross-field kick to wing which did not quite come off. With the score 7-5 in favour of Dalziel at the break, Hills needed to focus on providing a better platform to execute more attacking options and take advantage of our pace out wide.
The start of the second half mirrored the start of the game with Dalziel claiming opening set-pieces to find themselves winning a scrum from a knock-on 10 meters out. Hills had defended well the repeated charges of Dalziel’s pack. But a scything run from the Dalziel outhalf stretched the Hills midfield to expose a gap which allowed him to cut inside for an easy try which he duly converted (i.e. a mis-tackle in the back line allowed them to score after being bounced by our pack…).
In the next phases Hills re-grouped with the front row matching the Dalziel challenge in the scrum to work the home side inside the Dalziel half before Tom Donaldson punted a sharp and rangy grubber through a gap to force a line out behind the 22. Hills, now looking more urgent, presented multiple attacking options before Finlay McMillan crashed over the line off the back of a ruck 2m out. The conversion went through the posts to put Hills in close range with 12-14 to the guests.
The following period saw lean pickings for both sides with some broken play and steely defenses halting momentum. However this ended with an inspired and incisive try from Dean Campbell Drummond, aka Dynamite Dean, who exploited a very narrow but exposed blind side from 10 meters out. The kick stayed shy of the posts but put Hills ahead 17-14. The game closed with Dalziel throwing repeated charges down the slope to take back the score. Hills defended well and demonstrated good enough discipline to ensure there was not a point taken in the Dalziel challenge until the liberating final whistle.
Hills will now look to build on this first win of ‘18 for the 2A’s with solid defense, discipline and more confident handling as positive improvements over the last few difficult games.
This game also saw a beautiful and too rare event to go unnoticed, as Niall Houston* received his first senior front rower star. Congratulations to him!
Report: Stephen Cunniffe
Picture: Ian McLennagham
The 2As went into their Saturday fixture hoping to set a marker after two disappointing defeats, however, they were out played by a talented Marr 3rd XV. The 2As set off for Ayshire slightly earlier than usual at the request of a 1:30pm by Marr RFC – however, kick off was delayed to closer to 1:50pm as Marr were late to show.
Andy Bolster, utility back, marked a return to Hills starting at scrum half after heading out to New Zealand for the Lions tour, only to find out he was 6 months too late. Don’t worry though he took plenty of selfies and fell off a bridge with a helmet cam. Sean Smith was also making a return after a friendly fixture at his former club (Clydebank RFC) ended in a nasty ankle injury. Yet more returns, this time Dr David Webster (congratulations on passing your VIVA) and Jake Hayden returning to his usual role at centre. Last, but not least. Fergus Denton returns from suspension after receiving a red card in the early year success against Accies reserves.
Back to business – the team began their warm up familiarising themselves with the 3G surface and enjoying some touch, utilising their new found ability to run without running the risk of loosing a boot in the mud! Team Managers and club stalwarts Ian Mclennaghan and Hector MacIntrye then began running the team through their routine. Hector took the back to work on some set pieces while Ian and Sean worked the forward through their lineouts and drills. The team came together for their team runs, which ran with ease that the team were pumped and ready to go, high on confidence. However, kick off was then delayed by 20 mins.
It was remarked at how pivotal the strong winds would play in the first 40 minutes, noting that starting with the ball and playing down wind would set the foundations for a victory. Fergus Denton, Captain for the day, lost the toss and Marr opted to play down wind. Marr immediately put the wind to their advantage and ran in a few tries with their 7 and 8 catching the attention of all Hills attendees with the sharp running, physicality and strategy. Tragedy then struck after a string on high tackles by Marr led to Jake Hayden having to leave the pitch and be taken to hospital by Hector (rumour has it that he is a nurse and his wife is an engineer) our would be ambulance driver – to later find he had sustained a broken nose. The ball struggled to make it through the hands in the loose with the wind playing havoc on any kind of open play. Marr were unrelenting with their kicking game. Blair Johnston, fullback, made a great run from a retrieved kick, making a good 40 metres before another high tackle left him being taken off the pitch due to a concussion worry – he was replaced by Sean Smith. The referee did not reach for his pocket, but would soon be forced to do so minutes before half time for yet another high tackle by Marr. Peter Davidson, wing, was subbed for William Murphy shortly after the showing of card. Grant Payne then sustained a big hit, landing on the firm 3G and injuring his back, he continued on until half time where he was subbed off for Graeme Cannell who went to outside centre with NIck Watson moving to flanker.
Half time and Hills were down 28-0. Despite a well functioning scrum, the pressure set by Marr and the wind battered the squad.
Hills hoped the change in playing direction (now with the wind) would also change their fortunes. Sadly this wasn’t the case, Marr’s forward continued to carry well and their backs made a nuisance of themselves. Soon a try followed, without conversion, and Hills were on the back foot. Toby came off the wing in place of Iain Stewart. Marr continued to press and another 2 tries followed soon after. Grant Payne returned to the field to sure up the leaky wing, soon after Nick Watson made an inspired run, carving up Marr and dotting down between the cross. Bolster made sure not to miss this one like the Lions tour and slotted it between the post – shortly after the referee called time on Hills windy and down trodden day out.
Marr RFC 3XV 47 – HJRFC 2AXV 7
Report: Grant Payne
Photo: Courtesy of www.marrrugby.com
Last Saturday, 6th of January, Hillhead Jordanhill lined up a 4th Men XV to answer Cartha’s Veterans invitation. A good range of Hills notorious players answered the call and dug out their boots for the occasion.
The match started at a frantic pace and, with only 3 minutes into the game, a perfectly weighted pass from David Paterson put Ally Jamieson through under the posts for a stunning first score. Cartha responded well and some great defensive tackling from Hills, notably Mark Orr, calmed the storm.
It was then a great 40 meters break from Mark Orr again which ended with Chris Tulloch running in from 20 yards for Hills second try. Shortly after that, Ally Jamieson added his second following a great break and pass from David Paterson. Mark Orr was then rewarded for his great yardage gains and tackles to finish a great Ally Jamieson break. Just before half time John Malakotey drove over for a deserved Cartha try, following an elegant play through the phases. Hills then lost Andrew Robinson on the half time whistle through a shoulder injury.
Following the break, Joe McCabe broke from halfway to go all the way under the post – he certainly enjoyed scoring against his club. The Jamieson Bros hatrick was completed following the best move of the match when Jimmy broke through three tackles to get across the white line. Hills were then pushed back on the defensive and following a great turnover Chris Tulloch launched a no-nonsense 40 yard spiral kick into touch deep into the Cartha half.
Cartha came storming back at Hills and great tackling from Murray Bell, Mark Orr and Paul Sheerin continued to keep them from threatening the line. However, Hills finally succumbed to a second try from John Malakotey.
Hills then came back at Cartha to ensure no comeback was on the cards. A driving maul led to Murray Bell breaking away from 15 yards out for the crucial try. The game continued to be an end to end spectacle in the sunshine and with Hills down to 14 men, Cartha scored the final try of the match. It was fitting that Cartha’s leader Andy Moran was the scorer.
The match was competitive till the end, best summed up by Paul Sheerin’s brilliant tackle on the final whistle.
Final score Hills 45, Cartha 17
After Saturday’s success our Veterans are aiming for a round robin fixture on the 3rd March 2018. Please contact Hector MacIntyre for details and join the squad.
Coaching, Pictures & Report: Hector MacIntyre
Dalziel 3rdXV 29 points Hillhead/Jordanhill 2AXV 33 points
This was a very enjoyable, closely contested game played on a very firm pitch at the Clelland estate in Motherwell. For most of the game, Hills struggled again a much more physical home pack who were well drilled in the short range line out driving mauls. Indeed, Hills had to exist on scraps of first phase possession. Legendre was the main source of line out balls, while scrum half, Bolster, struggled at times with an uneven heel from the set piece.
It didn’t look good for the Hills at halftime, despite some strong running from Stevens which produced a penalty try and then a close range effort from Michaud. Dalziel, ten points up at the interval (22-12), had benefited from numerous penalties, using their number 10 long-range kicking to bring them in range for their mauling game. Dalziel continued to drive hard at the Hills, but the superior conditioning of the visitors paid off eventually in the final quarter.
Thanks to the wonderful surgical skills of flyhalf Crome, who carved up the home midfield with a fine defence splitting run, Hills were able to establish some attacking options in the Dalziel half. Quick movement of the ball through the hands allowed both visiting wingers to extend the home defence, but the searing pace of Mitchell and “Bambi” Davidson proved too much for Dalziel and both scored fine tries, with Davidson converting both to take the score to twenty nine points to twenty six with only sixty seconds left to play.
During the last play, Mitchell switched his line of running to set up an attacking ruck in the Dalziel twenty two. Veteran replacement prop, Richardson, officiating in second row, tidied up, then picked and drove at the splintered Dalziel fringe defence laying back a superb ball for Andy Bolster to uplift and scamper unopposed to the line. Winger Davidson added the extras and the final whistle blew. The Hills squad was ecstatic, while the Dalziel squad were dejected, having just lost a game they had been ahead in for seventy nine minutes. Fair result ? Maybe “Aye”, maybe “Naw”. The beauty and aesthetic of sport!!
