Playing at Murrayfield

An early-season rugby tournament, hosted by Murrayfield at Murrayfield.

Player Of The Year

End of the season at RHC Cougars, and Louis was voted "Players' Player Of The Year" by his team-mates. High praise indeed!

Murrayfield

Everywhere we go
People want to know
Who we are
And this is what we say:
We are the Cougars
The mighty mighty Cougars
COOOUUUGGGAAARRRSSS!

Forrester

Louis and fellow Cougars at the Forrester RFC tournament.

Man of The Match

RHC Cougars had a tournament at Edinburgh Accies today, in a distant déjà vu of the time we went to see Calum playing on the same pitches 8 years ago.

The Cougar P5s worked hard, and played well against some seriously well-drilled teams from the city's independent schools; Stewart's Melville, Linlithgow (admittedly a town rather than a school), Heriot's and Accies themselves.

Louis was (to these parental eyes) the man of the match; he was in among it and there or thereabouts all the time, and had several good runs, most of which ended only when three or more of the opposing team wrestled him to the ground.

In the end, he scored five of the team's six tries. Not bad going.

Mud, Mud Everywhere

A soaking wet day for a couple of home games against Edinburgh Accies today. They won one and lost one. As coach Colin said,

Well done to all the boys today. Was a tough one but they all stuck in.

Louis was soaking and filthy and freezing and absolutely loved it. Here's another one:

A Baker's Dozen?

We had a wee party in honour of Holly's 12th birthday, for which she made her own cake. The day started well enough, with the kiddies helping prepare kindling for the barbecue in lovely sunshine. By the time Louis and I had been to his rugby club end-of-term bash, the rain had begun. Like a dutiful dad I barbecued in the drizzle under a suspended tarp...

Player of the Week - Again

Player of the Week

Just Hangin' Out

While the boys ran about, Holly and Eloise amused themselves by dangling off the posts. It was around this time I discovered my phone camera has a slo-mo mode. Nothing much happens until about a minute in.

Rugby Party

Louis is nine! How did that happen? Anyhoo, in line with his current obsession he had a rugby party with RHC Cougars. It was awesome, there is no better thing in the world for occupying a bunch of nine year old boys than making them run around outside for an hour. Holly made a cake of course, modelled along the lines of the one she did for grandad last year. She and Eloise helped out with the party too.

Dirty Boy

We thought Louis might be tired after a week's skiing, but he still had the energy for an RHC Cougars training session when we got back. He got very dirty indeed.

Mighty Mighty Cougar

Having sampled a few training sessions with the RHC Cougars, Louis paid his subs and was duly rewarded with his own Cougars strip. Similar colours to Edinburgh Rugby and indeed Wendens Ambo RFC. He also played his first game against another club, grandma Sheila's alma mater Boroughmuir. I can't remember who won but Louis was in amongst it with enthusiasm. Not bad for a n00b.

On The Touchline

Following Louis' new-found interest in rugby, Calum, Scott and I took him to see Edinburgh vs Treviso at Murrayfield in the Guinness Pro12 league. As it's such a small game (look at all those empty seats!) we were allowed to go and stand on the touchline.

It's not fair to compare, but it's a much gentler, more civilised vibe than Tynecastle on a Saturday afternoon. Less shouting, and definitely less "industrial language" than the footie fans.