The Record - Gordonstoun

spring and summer term sportsFootballMr Kevin WilliamsGordonstoun’s football team had a very busy and,in terms of their win ratio, an extremely successful2012/13 season. In all competitions they lost only fiveout of twenty four games, scoring an impressive 75goals and conceding a miserly 29.There was disappointment and some bad luck alongthe way, losing out not once but twice in penalty shootouts in Cup competitions.The first was in the Scottish Cup third round againstthe highly rated Cults Academy from Aberdeenshire;the second proved to be even more unfortunate whenthey faced Buckie High in the League Cup Final. Buckiescored in the last minute of normal time and in the lastseconds of extra time to draw 2-2 and go on to win 4-3on penalties. To rub salt into the wounds Buckie werepresented with the League Trophy on the same evening,having held off the season’s challenge of Gordonstounby just three points.Most of the team’s best performances were based onan excellent back four and some solid goalkeeping.Centre back and Captain Jacob Bunn and goalkeeperGeorge Longstaff had impressive seasons and wererewarded for their efforts with Scottish caps whenan Independent Schools’ Select lost 3-2 to theircounterparts in England.Under 15 Boys’ HockeyMr Sam RobertsThree boys - Tuege Neumann, Aiden Humphries andJames Metcalfe - performed well at the inter-DistrictFinals in Edinburgh, playing in an U15 Highland teamthat looked as if it had been playing together formonths despite only having two training sessions priorto the day.There were impressive wins against East, West andNorth but unfortunately a 2-1 loss to Midland meantthat they just missed out on the National title. TheSilver medal was a much deserved reward for theboys efforts.Tuege Neumann garnered attention from the nationalselectors with his performances in goal, keeping threeclean sheets throughout the day, and was invited tojoin the Scottish squad. Unfortunately, he did notqualify for this honour on residency grounds as he’sonly been at the School for a year, but maybe in twoyears’ time...1st XV RugbyMr Steve BrownThis may appear to be a strange time of year to bereporting on rugby but successful runs in two Cupcompetitions resulted in the First XV playing in allthree terms. The finals of the North Schools’ Cup andthe Caledonia Cup were played in the same weekand resulted in two agonisingly close defeats, first by17-13 against Robert Gordon’s College and then by17-10 to Perthshire RFC U18s.Whilst it was disappointing to miss out narrowly intwo finals, it is important not to lose sight of the hugeamount of progress that was made and the successachieved. The First XV played 24 matches - this isalmost certainly more than any other school (andprobably U18 club team) in Scotland, winning 16 ofthem. The largest losing margins were by 12 pointsand 10 points and all of the other losses were by onescore or less.The team won the Grampian Schools’ Plate final andreached the quarter final of the Scottish Schools’Plate (losing 11-8 to the eventual winners) as well asthe North Schools’ Cup final and the Caledonia Cupfinal. They alsofinished second inDivision One of theCaledonia NorthU18 League.First XV Captain, Leo Dalton, rises tothe challengeThe boys deservea huge amountof credit for theirpositive attitude,their determinationand their desire toimprove as rugbyplayers. They wereled superbly byskipper Leo Daltonand were anabsolute pleasureto coach.10