You are here: Match Reports / Sevens/Kilmarnock 26th May 2007
| DISCLAIMER – reading this sentence is your acceptance that this match report contains no libellous content. Hills departed Hughenden as defending champions and in a rich vein of form for the Kilmarnock 7s, held at a club famous for having the tallest rugby posts in Britain (1977). Captain Paterson, never one to bottle big decisions made several changes from the previous week. Out went Elder (dropped), Gibson (missing) and Dewar (grazed knee) and in came Muir (Kiwi), Mahindru (Whitecraigs) and Marshall (available after suspension). Muir, steeped in the rich New Zealand rugby heritage was thrilled to be selected, as it would allow him to play at Rugby Park. Hill’s were drawn in the same changing room as the Royal Marines. In a “theatre of war” these men have no peer but even they refused to share a changing room with Marshall, the “hardest man in South Ayrshire” and they simply didn’t turn up. Todd was devastated at not being able to show the marines his new military issue haircut. As is now customary, the draw was “adjusted” to ensure that Hill’s would be disadvantaged. Kilmarnock did this by rearranging Hill’s side of the draw into a round- robin pool that would see Hill’s face Ardrossan and Dalziel, therefore having to play two games to qualify for the second round. Perhaps the team was missing Little Red or maybe it was warming up by playing keepie uppies but either way, Hill’s were far from impressive in their opening match against Ardrossan, scraping home 4 tries to 3 with Marshall contributing a hat-trick. Clearly changes would have to be made. Showing nerves of steel, Captain Paterson dropped Stafford, who although crowned Scottish U-19 player of the year the night before and was clearly struggling to reacclimatise to life with the Hill’s. Player/referee Rose was promoted from the bench. Facing Dalziel, Hill’s ensured that there was no repeat of their earlier stage fright and progress to the “second round” was assured with an 8 try demolition. Try scorers did not include Fisken or Stafford. In the second round Hill’s were drawn to face Marr and again kept Stafford on the bench. This appeared to be a high-risk strategy as Hill’s were two tries to nil down at half time, having failed to play anything that resembled rugby. Hill’s brought on “The Staff” and like a phoenix from the ashes, upped their intensity, scoring 5 unanswered tries to “bar Marr’s” from the semi-final. Todd scored a try that will live short in the memory. Whitecraigs were Hill’s semi-final opponents and were dispatched by 6 trys to nil in a one sided match. Stafford, desperate to score on the pitch for once, blagged a try from Muir and Todd scored another try. And so onto the final were Hill’s would play Garnock. Cutting a long story short, Garnock won the match by 5 tries to 3. Try scorers for Hill’s were Paterson, Muir and Fisken. Squad – Cahoon; Fisken, D; Paterson; Mahindru; Marshall; Muir; Rose; Stafford; Todd; Walker. BBfW – Originally awarded a 3-star rating, the Killie burger was downgrading to 1-star – leaves a bad aftertaste. On a sadder note Torbett is believed to have retired with immediate effect having failed to recover from his Pirates of the Caribbean themed “curse of the black foot” injury. A stalwart of the club, Torbett (37) was an archetypal non-tackling #10, feared by opponents and team-mates alike and his contribution of one tackle a season will be greatly missed. |
