SUNDAY saw Ardrossan Accies Minis and Micros meet with Irvine/Carrick RFC and Greenock RFC for the third instalment of their three-club fixture for the 2017/18 season.

Once again, the teams were lucky enough to have cool, dry weather to play their rugby in, with the Marress pitch in fine condition. As ever, the Accies as a club looked to produce a faster, wider game than their opponents, playing on their own strengths.

The youngest Accies on the field were the P1/2 squad, who enjoyed three games on the day. The coaches had spent time encouraging the kids to run onto the ball at pace in an effort to speed up their attack. This skill was executed brilliantly by the youngsters, helping them to two victories and conceding just one narrow loss on the day. The stand out performers were Ruan Gossman and Logan Gallacher, with both boys picking up star of the day awards.

P3 struggled to match the sharper, more direct play of their opponents. Despite the best efforts of the speedy Ewan McKechen and his skilful teammate Fraser Rodger, the P3 team lost their three matches. With a little more tactical direction during training, the kids will soon bounce back to winning ways.

P4/5 split into two squads. Accies Blue enjoyed a fine start to proceedings by beating Irvine/Carrick well with Leo Gallanach producing his finest ever Accies performance and picking up one of the star of the day awards. Their second game resulted in a close win, nicked at the very final whistle thanks to the sublime performance on display from star man Calum Monaghan. Accies Black, produced some equally spectacular rugby with skilful switches, offloads and training ground moves being brought into the lives matches with aplomb. A solid victory against the hosts Irvine/Carrick was followed by a close loss to Greenock, whose powerful strike runners proved tough to stop at times. Logan O’ Moore was incisive in his attacking play and with his teammate Rory Gallacher’s creative skills heavily influencing the games it was no surprise that the boys were awarded stars of the day. Ryan McCulley was another top performer, worthy of a mention due to his sharp work at the breakdown.

P6/7 also split into Accies Blue and Accies Black squads. The Blues took on Greenock first, succumbing to a close loss against the powerful players from Inverclyde. The tough tackling of Brandon Dekker was enough to earn him the star of the day. The second match against Irvine/Carrick fared much better for the Accies with new player Rory Prentice’s awe-inspiring speed helping him score several tries and delivering his team a win. He was dutifully awarded star of the day.

The Accies Black team played the fixtures in reverse, starting their afternoon with an impressive victory over the hosts. Tom Monaghan was at his try-scoring best thanks to his speed of thought as much as speed of foot. Intercepted passes and breakdown thievery led to him crossing the try line several times and picking up star of the day. The second match against Greenock was extremely tight, with both team’s defence coming to the fore.

The bigger Greenock players managed to build a handsome lead, but the Accies showed some fine resolve to withstand the onslaught on their line, win back possession and bring the game to a draw with a minute to go. Thanks to the tough-tackling and strong running of star man Calum Sweenie, the Accies snuck a victory in the final moments of the game.