Life @ EA

It’s been a strange year for Rugby at EA, what’s been going on?

On the 13th of March 2020, Scotland’s 6 Nations fixture with Wales was postponed due to the outbreak of Covid-19. For everyone involved in the game, it was a time of uncertainty, but not many people would have predicted that we would be in the same position almost a year later. In the past 10 months, only professional games have gone ahead and behind closed doors. For a contact sport, it’s been a difficult year. We spoke to the Academy’s new Director of Rugby, Chris Martin, about how the school have continued to develop and deliver rugby throughout the pandemic.

Changing guidance, hope and disappointment

When we started training in August the rate of infection was low and there was hope that we’d be back to playing matches around November time. The training restrictions were gradually lifted and the players and coaches were beginning to get excited about playing matches again, but as with everything this year, things changed.

We’ve had to alter the way we train due to guidelines around physical distancing, contact and numbers within a certain area, so we’ve been creative in how we engage players whilst developing their skills. We used the time after the October break to theme our weeks. We covered a wide range of skills, styles of play and used different competitions such as the 6 Nations, Champions Cup and Super Rugby to make Saturday mornings the highlight of the week. Ex EA pupil and professional rugby player, Tom Brown, came down to assist with some coaching as well, which was brilliant. It was great fun and we could see the benefit the players got from it.

We got our hopes up again just before Christmas time with the possibility of playing an altered version of the game towards the end of January, but here we are, at the end of January in lockdown! Whilst it’s been an ever-changing and frustrating year, I’ve really enjoyed getting to work with our staff and building relationships with our pupils. The positives that I’ve taken from the previous 6 months are the levels of skill development, game understanding and the resilience that our pupils have shown. We haven’t had one complaint about training being boring or wanting to give up, which is incredible, given how restricted their lives are at the moment. Our numbers have actually grown and I’m really looking forward to seeing them thrive and enjoy rugby with their friends when we get through this.
 

Lockdown rugby, Doddie Aid and a Q and A with Mike Blair.

We’d all much rather be together at New Field running around, but lockdown has presented us with opportunities to explore different areas of the game. Each team has a weekly programme including skills challenges and some interactive learning. Some of our topics have included the ‘History of Rugby Quiz, where pupils learnt about the origins of the game and the significance of EA and Raeburn place in both school and international rugby. We’ve also been exploring the mental side of the game, as well as giving the pupils cultural scenarios to discuss and feedback on. It’s a great chance to discuss the areas of the game that are going to help prepare our pupils for life beyond school and out with rugby.

Our U16 and U18 squads had the privilege of being joined by former pupil and current Scotland assistant coach, Mike Blair, for a Q and A during one of their rugby sessions. Mike has been extremely helpful throughout the last few months since I started at the school. He is clearly very passionate about the Academy and if it wasn’t for lockdown, he would have been in to work with our players and coaches both on the field and in the classroom. He kindly gave up some of his time to talk to our players about his career, some of his highlights and the lessons he learnt throughout his time and gave some excellent advice and words of wisdom to our aspiring players.

He spoke so openly about moments like; the time he met his rugby hero, Gary Armstrong, before a Borders v Edinburgh match at Netherdale, what he was doing when he received the phone call letting him know that he had been selected to go on the 2009 British Lions tour, as well as some of the spine-tingling moments at Murrayfield, such as the lone piper playing Highland Cathedral on top of the East stand before a Calcutta cup match.

One of the moments of his career that literally had his hairs standing when he was telling us, was when Doddie Weir presented the match ball in response to the New Zealand Haka in 2017. The way Mike told the story was incredible and we could all see and feel the emotion in his voice as he described the atmosphere in Murrayfield that night. It was a truly brilliant afternoon that all our pupils and staff were so grateful for. I can’t thank Mike enough for his time and speaking so openly.

Mike’s story about his experience at Murrayfield that night coincides with a challenge that the U18 squad are currently taking part in to raise money for the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation. The players have all signed up for the Doddie Aid inter-district competition and have pledged to collectively run or walk ‘500 miles’ as the famous Proclaimers song goes. So far, they have exceeded that target and are sitting on a combined total of 1200 miles as well as raising an incredible £1500 in the process, with two weeks left to go. This is being driven by this year’s 1st XV captain, Ben Murray, who has shown phenomenal leadership throughout the last 6 months. This is a very difficult year for our sevenths, who have looked forward to their final year of school rugby and all the events that come with it, including the tour to South Africa, which has unfortunately been cancelled. The leadership team of Ben, Alex Burns, Adam McNeill and Harvey Cameron-Barr have been a pleasure to work with and I cannot speak highly enough of them and the way they have motivated the rest of the players through a very difficult time.

It’s been an odd time, but there have been great opportunities to learn and grow as individuals and the enthusiasm that the pupils have shown give me a great feeling of optimism for the near future.