Livingston rugby pair picked for Integrated camp

Oct 2 2008 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

LIVINGSTON Rugby Club’s S1 and S2 sides had mixed fortunes last weekend against their Lasswade counterparts.

The S1 side and Lasswade exchanged points and dominance throughout an exciting encounter before eventually losing out by five tries to four.

However, there was no agonising defeat for the S2 Livvy boys who were simply in a league of their own.

They crushed Lasswade by 13 tries to nil, which underlines the progress these boys are making under coaches Anderson and Hanlon.

There was further good news for the Livingston Youth section this week when two of their under-16 squad — Ewan Naysmith and Liam Black — were selected to attend a training camp for the Edinburgh Integrated training squad.

The players are selected for this training squad from the representative sides of the club, as well as school sides in Edinburgh and the Lothians, so it is a fine achievement for the two boys identified as having potential to succeed at this level.

The boys are to attend a two-day selection camp at Fettes College in October that will push them to the limit.

Ewan and Liam have been playing rugby at Livingston since they were four years old and are a shining example of the excellent work of the club’s youth section.

Ewan and Liam and team-mates Ben Meechan, Jack Hall and Dean Edwards are also attending weights and conditioning sessions at Telford College on Friday afternoons as part of the ongoing development programme that the SRU sponsors.

This additional training augments the weights and conditioning work that the rugby club put in place for the boys last season, under the supervision of the previous rugby development officer, Millan Browne.

The club are keen to hear from any new players to help strengthen its playing base.

From October 1, through to April next year, Wednesday night training sessions will take place at the following locations, with additional games and training on Sundays.

P4, P5, P6, P7 and S1 will attend the Astro turf at Craigswood from 6.30 to 7.30pm.

S2, U15 and U16 will train on the astro at Inveralmond from 6pm to 7.30pm.

The children play in teams made up of their primary (P) and secondary (S) school year, while players for the under-15 section must have been born in 1994 to be eligible.

Players keen to try out for the under-16s must have been born in 1993.

With a strengthening under-18 side also competing in the Edinburgh leagues, the future of Livingston Rugby Football Club is beginning to take shape.