Lochaber pupils punch above their weight at rugby finals

Forty-eight pupils from Ardnamurchan and Lochaber High Schools travelled to Elgin last Thursday, March 16, to represent Lochaber Schools at the Caledonia North 6 Series Finals Day.

 

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The event is a regional inter-schools competition run by Scottish Rugby and assisted by Development Officers and Community Coaches attached to local rugby clubs.

 

With the assistance of Bridget Thomas and Alan Gray of Active Schools and Mr Watson of Lochaber High School's PE Dept, Lochaber RFC's community coach, Stevie McAleer arranged for teams of S1, S2 and S3 Boys, and U14 and U16 Girls to attend the event at Moray RFC where they played other school teams from across the Highlands and Grampian areas.

 

A number of the girls and boys from Ardnamurchan High School were playing competitive rugby for the first time and combined with their Lochaber High School team mates in playing extremely well.

 

Players from all teams put in a huge effort and worked hard for each other during all of the games. The standard of rugby on display was excellent, especially given the difficult conditions.

 

When all of the games were played and points tallied up, Lochaber Schools finished in second place overall which is a fantastic achievement against some more experienced and well established school teams.

 

To round off a brilliant day the Lochaber Schools teams were presented with the Divisional Winners award for success in the earlier rounds leading up to the Finals Day.

 

Coach McAleer said: "It has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience being involved with such an enthusiastic and talented group of players.

 

"I am looking forward to continuing to work with the girls and boys during school rugby sessions, and also coaching them at the rugby club in Banavie."