Published: Tuesday, 19th August, 2008 10:30am

It's action stations at Fullarton Park

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All the latest from Marr Rugby club as they prepare for the new season

Marr Rugby had a busy week scheduled, first up on Thursday evening was the visit of neighbouring club, Irvine who ply their trade in Premier Division 3. The match took the form of four twenty minute quarters and was a high paced game with both sides looking to move the ball through the hands whenever possible.

Marr took the opportunity to give nearly all their senior players a run out, fully utilising both the 1st and 2nd XV squads, allowing the coaches to run the rule over all the players.

The Marr side started well, contesting at the breakdown, solid in the scrum and with half backs Andrew Bate and Rory McGee controlling the game well, releasing the outside backs who looked sharp and willing to have a go from all areas of the field.

Marr won the contest five tries to three with the pick of the Marr scores a family affair coming from wing Luke Davies after he received a lovely inside ball from his brother Kurt after the ball had been moved nicely along the back line in a patient build up. Marr"s other scorers were Andrew Bate who sold a dummy at a ruck near the Irvine line to wriggle over, Number 8 Stephen Logie who cut a nice line to slice through the covering defenders, 2nd Row Chris Mayers who powered over from short range and another score from Luke Davies.

Notable performances came from both wings Luke Davies and Scott Bickerstaff, Ryan Kirk looked solid at fullback and of course Don Morrison put in his usual abrasive display in the back row.

Kevin Pattie the new Marr coach could be happy with his charges as they looked fit and keen, but with plenty of work to do in several areas of the game, the line out didn"t function as well as it might have, but in saying that the bulk of the problems were down to timing which should be easily rectified on the training paddock. Another area to work on is the breakdown where the Troon side were inconsistent, but again this is likely to have more to do with the changes brought about by the Experimental Law Variations (ELV"s).

The mood in the home dressing room was summed up well by Captain Robbie Lockie who felt hugely encouraged with the performance; this was after all the Troon sides first run out against a side three leagues above Marr and with a much changed line up from last season.

The under 17s and under 15s have recently started their preparations for the new season with sessions on Wednesday evenings. The S1 and S2s started their training on Monday July 28.

The Minis started their year on Saturday August 16 and these sessions are open to primary school age children from P3 through to P7.

Marr Rugby offers the opportunity to play or otherwise enjoy rugby for the residents of Troon, Prestwick and the surrounding towns and villages. It has a great tradition as a family friendly club with a very positive ethos and approach to rugby. All are welcome to come along and enjoy the rugby experience.

If you wish further information you can visit the club website: http://www.marrrugby.com/ or contact the clubhouse 01292 311133.

Marr v Forrester

Marr travelled to Edinburgh on Saturday for their latest pre-season friendly against Forrester. Forrester currently ply their trade in the league above Marr and finished last season"s campaign in third place just missing out on promotion. Marr travelled with a weakened side with players such as Stuart Millar, Don Morrison, Barry Kirk and Andrew Watson all unavailable. Marr were without a number of their new crop of young players, such as Frazer Ferguson, Gavin Muir, Andrew and Craig Bate and Scott Bickerstaff who had played so well in the win over Irvine the previous Thursday.

Marr started brightly and won an early penalty after Forrester were deemed to have killed the ball, Stand off Rory Magee kicked the ball in to touch five metres out however a squint throw saw Marr lose possession. Marr continued to press but gave away a silly penalty which allowed Forrester to kick their way out of their twenty-two. The next phase of play saw Forrester cross the Marr for their first points of the match after some poor defensive play. Marr however marched straight back up and into the Forrester twenty-two after second row Darren O"Connor leapt like a Gazelle to claim the restart. Marr"s forwards drove up the pitch, their pick and drives moving the larger Forrester pack back into the twenty-two. Marr had several chances to cross the line and could have been a couple of tries up before captain Robbie Lockie crossed the line after a well worked backs move sent him clear.

Forrester were to add a couple of break away tries before half time which saw Marr two tries down. Marr were however first to strike after the break with a fantastic individual effort by Andrew Gault, who danced through the opposition and over the try line to bring Marr back to within a try of their hosts. Marr however started to tire and the bigger Forrester pack started to wear the Marr pack down, Marr started to miss a few more tackles which allowed Forrester to run in a few tries.

Marr again battled back and after some good work by the forwards driving the ball up the park, the ball was moved to the right and a lovely piece of interplay between Gavin Mason and Andrew Gault created space for Kris Ferguson burst free and close to the Forrester line before offloading in the tackle to Shaun Little who touched down. Marr lost another couple of tries in the last couple of minutes.

This was however a good work out for the Troon side who will have learned alot through the experience. Good performances from Kurt Davies, Darren O"Connor, Robbie Lockie and Andrew Gault and all the second fifteen players who had stepped up this week made this a productive fixture.

In a busy weekend Marr also entered a team in the Irvine sevens tournament and walked away with the trophy after some impressive performances by the entire squad. Training continues on Tuesday and Thursday nights at 7pm and anyone wishing to play is welcome to come along and join in. Next week sees both Marr teams entertain North Berwick, kick off at 3pm.