Season ends with more victories!!

Stew Mel Lions S1

The season has ended on Sunday on a fantastic note. The S1 squad won the Scottish Cup on the Murrayfield main pitch. They beat a very strong Gala team 14-3. There were tries from Calder, Gilmore, Selman, Duncan and two conversions from Baikie, as the Lions roared to victory with a great display of open rugby. This is the first time that this Gala team have ever been beaten at any age group! Earlier the semi final was won 18-9 against Pertshire. Again, the team had played excellent running rugby and the whole sqaud had managed to play in the game. A special mention must go to the coaches, Calder, Sims, Leigh and Brown for their hardwork during the season. It is important that the boys train hard next season so that they can retain the title!

Under 16

Later in the day, the S4's were narrowly beaten 12-10 in a hard fought final against Hillhead/Jordanhill also on the main Murrayfield pitch. The boys had played magnificently throughout the day beating a very strong Stirling County side 11-3 in the semi final.

Well done to the coaches and players- you were very unlucky but will be back next year looking to win the Under 18 league and cup.

P7

Success on the pitch has has been experienced by the younger age groups as well. The P7 completed a very sucessful tour to Sevenoaks, England during the Easter break.

Stew Mel Lions P7 v Sevenoaks

It is hoped that this tour will become an annual event with the P7 age group. The team are to continue next year and make an assault on the Scottish cup.

P6

The P6 have finished the season of in style by winning the Perthshire, Stirling County and State of Origin Challenge Tournaments against Heriot's and Watson's. More importantly, they managed to overcome Edinburgh Accies for the first time in several years. John Campbell is to stand down as P6 coach as his son is to play in his own age group next year and John has the onerous task of taking over as Chairman of the Junior section. Mike Baynham is to take over as head coach.

P5

The P5 have again had a very sucessful season winning most matches. The highlight of their season was a fantastic win in the Accies Tournament against a very aggressive Accies team. They won the final 4-0. They also won the Forresters Tournament and and finished very comfortable winners of the State of Origin Challenge.

P4

The P4's have had a difficult season due to the weather. This has meant that has cost much valuable time on the training pitch. Nonetheless, they won their first tournament at Howe of Fife and have built on this success. They won the Cup and Shield in the State of Origin Challenge against Heriot's and Watson's.

P3

The P3's have also experienced problems with the weather. It has disrupted the training sessions but the boys have still shown great enthusiasm. They won the Bowl final in the State of Origin Challenge.

Lion Cubs

The Lion cubs have also struggled with the weather but sessions were much more regualr during the Spring. A special mention for those that help organise this each week.

Aberdeen Tour

A party of 46 Stew Mel Lions and 26 parents took the high road to Aberdeen this weekend and returned home today having had a successful tour playing matches against Aberdeen Wanderers and Aberdeen Grammar School mini rugby clubs. Yet again, the lions came back to Inverleith triumphant, winning all eight of their matches against strong Northern opposition.

The Lions roar!

On a glorious sunny day for the large number of Lions parents that made the trip to Aberdeen either by coach or car, the P4's gave convincing performances in winning both of their two games by handsome margins.

The P5's made their travelling fans sweat by overcoming 3-1 and 3-0 half time deficts to produce storming second half performances to win 6-3 and 5-3 respectively-don't ever do that to us again boys!

The P6's won both their matches without conceding a try, 7-0 and 3-0.

But the performance of the day has to go to the second P6 team who played against P7 opposition from both Wanderers and Grammar. Having disposed of Grammars P7's in their first match, they took on what can be only be described as the biggest looking P7 boys I can ever remember seeing in the Wanderers P7 team. With everyone from the Lions tour party looking on , the team gave a brave and gutsy performance against physically much larger boys and beat them 2-1 to cap off a fine end to the tour.

I think everyone that travelled to Aberdeen agreed that the tour had been a great success, with competitive football matches being played between the dads and sons on the links at the beachfont on the Saturday afternoon before we all went swimming at the Leisure Pool on the Saturday evening (who will ever forget the water displacement that took place when John Campbell Senior came hurtling down the Wipeout Flume slide at the Leisure Pool-tidal wave?).

With two days of spectacular sunshine, this brought the current season to a fitting climax and provided the boys and the parents with a great social weekend to round it all off.

Next Season

The club is going from strength to strength. We have won our first national title and I am sure that this is a trend that is set to continue. This success is due to hard work and committment from the players, coaches and parents. Thank you and well done!

See you at the begining of the season at our Open day on Sunday 26th August!!

Mike Sims
May,2001
Chairman, Stew Mel Lions

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