Weekend Sport – Sat/Sun 13th/14th Oct. Success in Rugby and Golf

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Rugby:       Stewart’s Melville RFC    22   Peebles    7

Another win for the 1st XV on Saturday, the sixth in seven games keeps them in second place in the NL2 table with 28 points, five behind leaders Biggar who maintained their 100% record.  Highland are third on 25 points and  Preston Lodge fourth with 22 points after securing a one point victory over Falkirk.

The link to the full match report is here  http://www.stewmelrugby.com/match-report-vs-peebles-rfc-13th-october-2018/

Golf:    Former pupil Grant Forrest secures playing card for main 2019 European Tour

Playing on Europe’s second tier Challenge Tour this season Grant Forrest achieved a third second place finish on Sunday in the Hainan Open played in China taking him up to seventh place in the tour rankings with two events left which with the top fifteen getting playing rights on the main tour for 2019 guarantees him that status at the season’s end.   In this event he got off to a flier with a 10 under par first round of 62 (28 for the inward half including eagles at two consecutive holes).    Ultimately he finished two shots behind the tournament winner with a 13 under par total of 275 failing to obtain the required birdie on the par 5 72nd hole which would have given him the win.

The European Challenge Tour includes events in Kenya, China and the UAE so this week’s tournament is also being played in China before the concluding event in the UAE.

Weekend Sport – Sat 25th August. Cricket / Rugby / Golf

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1st XI v Grange for last match of the season

Cricket:    Grange  344 for four (50 overs);  Stewart’s Melville CC   154 for nine (50 Overs).   Lost by 180 runs.

The 2018 cricket season drew to a close for the club with a final league match against Grange, the new league champions, at Raeburn Place.   With ninth place secured a fortnight earlier the club had already retained their place in the Premier League for 2019.   In the event as anticipated Grange’s batting proved too strong for a Stew Mel bowling attack missing professional Shaylen Pillay who returned to South Africa earlier in the week, with Nick Farrar a very accomplished opening bat compiling a score of 120 for the home side supported by Tom Foulds (52) and Neil McCallum, a former Scottish international bat playing his last league match before retirement with 46.    Facing an unlikely target to win the Stew Mel batsmen were faced with aggressive seam bowling on a pitch that suited them from Graham Goudie and Stuart Davidson, another two former capped players.   20-4 suggested another early finish but Hayden Sweet dug in against the rest of the Grange attack to achieve a personal best for the season of 75 (from 86 balls)supported by Sam Tait who resolutely blocked out 117 balls in 98 minutes to finish with 13 not out and leave Grange still looking for the 10th wicket when play finished with the score on 154.   Although well beaten the lasting thought was that with the same approach to batting shown by Hayden and Sam in earlier games we might have finished with more than three league wins.

Rugby:    National League Cup.     Carrick     19 points     Stewart’s Melville RFC    41 points 

Maybole was the destination for the rugby club’s first competitive game of the season with a comfortable win being achieved which takes them into the second round of the National League Cup.

A full report is available on http://www.stewmelrugby.com

Golf:    Third place finish for Grant Forrest on European Challenge Tour Event

Grant Forrest showed a return to form with a 15 under par score of 273 (71,70, 66,66) and third place finish in the 40 man field for the Rolex Trophy in Geneva, one of the more significant events on the tour.   This takes Grant back up into seventh place in the tour rankings with the top 15 at the end of the season winning cards for the main European Tour.

 

Weekend Sport Sat/Sun 16th/17th June – Cricket, Golf & Rugby.

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Cricket:   The heavy showers which affected the East of Scotland on Saturday resulted in a complete washout of East Premier League fixtures.    Our 1st XIs match with Watsonians at Myreside was one of the last to be called off by the officiating umpires in mid afternoon after much hanging about and World Cup football watching.   The monotony was relieved by the splendid Myreside tea supplied by the catering division of Heart of Midlothian FC – even our teams Hibs supporters were seen going back for seconds.   The cancellation leaves the 1st XI in 8th place with two wins above Watsonians (one win) and Glenrothes (no wins).

Golf:  While the Word’s attention was focused on the US Open in New York our own Grant Forrest had another successful week on the European Challenge tour in France tieing for the lead after the regulation 72 holes of strokeplay.  Unfortunately he lost out in the play-off for the winners cheque at the third extra hole but the ranking points gained elevated him to 7th place where the top fifteen at the end of the season obtain playing privileges on the full European Tour.

Rugby: Scotland suffered a surprise defeat by USA in the second Test match of their Americas tour by the narrowest of margins 30-29.    The Stew Mel interest was provided by George Turner winning his 5th cap who started for the first time and added a further try to the three he scored v Canada last week.

 

Weekend Sport – Cricket / Golf

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Hammad Azam (RHC)

Cricket:   RH Corstorphine   289 f0r 6;    Stew Mel   86 all out

Altogether a comprehensive loss for the 1sts on Saturday when on a hard pitch and fast outfield RHC responded to captain Greg Ruthven’s invitation to bat by putting on a huge score at almost a run a ball.  Pakistani professional Hammad Azam at no 4 top scored with 83 from only 62 balls but was well supported by Aussie Sam Flett (no 3) 77 from 93 balls and Elliot Foster (no 2) 68 from 83 balls.  Altogether RHC hit 28 fours and 2 sixes.   Stew Mel were never near the required rate and after reaching 49 for 1 in 11 overs only managed  86 all out in the 36th over.    Next up in the league is Carlton on Saturday.   Last Tuesday’s Masterton Trophy T20 match with Edinburgh CC at Campbell Park ended in an unlikely tie.

Golf:  Grant Forrest had another good finish on the PGA’s Challenge Tour tieing for 7th place in the Czech Republic with rounds of 68,68,71,68 (13 under par) and finishing with six birdies in his last 10 holes.

Golf – Near miss for Grant Forrest on Challenge Tour

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Former pupil Grant Forrest (24) came close to winning a first professional golf  tournament on the European Challenge Tour this weekend in the Costa del Sol Matchplay 9 event in Malaga, Spain.

The first 36 holes of the tournament were played on a conventional strokeplay basis with the leading 64 players qualifying for matchplay with matches restricted to nine holes rather than the normal eighteen.   

Grant qualified in third place for the matchplay rounds with strokeplay rounds of 70 and 65  and followed this with wins in the rounds of 64, 32, 16, 8 and a semi-final.   In the final he played fellow Scot Liam Johnston losing the nine hole final by one hole despite birdieing four holes.  A bogey 6 at the eighth hole left Johnston one up and the ninth was halved in par 3s.

Grant’s prizemoney of 22,000 Euros takes him to just outside the Challenge Tour’s top ten in the rankings.    At the end of the season the top 15 win a playing card for the main European Golf Tour.    We will continue to watch his progress with interest.

Golf – Peter Mann Trophy

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The annual golf match for the Peter Mann Trophy between pre merger former pupils of Daniel Stewart’s College and Melville College took place at Bruntsfield Links on Friday 18th May.

 The match was played 12-a-side in Greensomes foursomes format with the “Mellies” retaining the cup by 4 1/2 matches to 1 1/2. Peter’s grandson Richard was on hand to present the cup to winning captain Bert Hutchinson while opposing captain Sam Malcolm won the prize for sartorial elegance on the links.

 

Golf Club Dinner

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The Annual Golf Club dinner took place in the clubhouse on Friday 23rd March.   Over seventy members and guests enjoyed the evening chaired by captain Adam Preedy.   Jim Robertson was a thoroughly entertaining guest speaker with stories from his work as a Procurator Fiscal throughout Scotland.

Weekend Sport – Sat 17th March. Rugby, Hockey, Golf.

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Rugby:   Selkirk   28   Stewarts Melville RFC    5

A disappointing outcome for the 1st XV who were pretty much in the last chance saloon as regards avoiding relegation from NL1 at the end of the season.    This Saturday sees a home game v Gala (3pm) with Scottish coach Gregor Townsend a guest speaker at the pre match lunch.

Hockey:    Pride of place this week goes to the school’s Under 18 and under 15 teams who both retained Scottish Hockey’s schools cups which SMC won last year – the under 18s defeated Hutchesons 4-2 and the under 15s George Watsons 3-2 in Friday evening’s finals.   Congratulations to both teams.

In senior hockey both the mens and ladies teams continued their good post winter break form, the Mens 1s winning 3-0 v Stirling University and the Ladies 1s defeating Granite City 4-0.  In 10 team leagues the Mens team are in 4th place in NL3 and the Ladies in 3rd place in NL2.

Golf:  The FP Golf Club have a busy weekend coming – Friday is the annual dinner and prize giving night and Sunday sees the start of the new golf season with the Spring Outing at Crail.

 

Weekend Sport – Sat 10th February. Golf, Rugby and Football

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Golf:   Strong performance by Grant Forrest in Australia

Grant Forrest in action in the ISPS Handa World Super 6 Tournament

Former pupil Grant Forrest’s first tournament of the year took him to the clear blue skies and warmth of Perth, Australia where he participated in the European Tour’s World Super 6s event where the initial field of 156 reduced to 8o after 36 holes strokeplay and to 24 after 54 holes.   The 24 qualifiers then played 6 hole matchplay golf on the fourth and final day.  Grant was in third place one shot behind the lead after 36 holes with a 68 and 67, before a par 72 qualified him in ninth place after 54 holes before going out by 1 hole to Australia’s Matthew Millar in the 1st round of the play-offs despite being one under par for the six holes.   This performance moved Grant up about 100 places in golf’s World rankings where he is now the tenth placed Scot.

Rugby:    Stewart’s Melville RFC    29    Penicuik     13

A strong performance in the early part of the second half  brought three tries and turned a 6-5  half-time deficit into relatively comfortable win at Inverleith on Saturday for the 1sts in the Quarter Final of the BT National League Cup against Peebles from NL2.   A fourth try took us into a 29-6 lead before Peebles reduced the deficit with a late score.   Kelso, Dumfries and Highland were the other quarter-final winners and one of them will stand between the club and a season’s end final at Murrayfield.

Football:  Just to complete the weekend news – 17 year old former pupil Euan Henderson was a late substitute in Hearts 3-0 Scottish Cup win over St Johnstone at Tynecastle.