2nd XV Team Manager - Tom Oliver

Dalkeith 2nd XV start the season in the East of Scotland division 3 seconds league with Mark (Stooge) Lockhart taking up the captaincy for a second year. The league is made up of teams from lower divisions as well as Premiership 3rd and 4th with some old adversaries such as Ross High and PL 3rd’s and Penicuik 2nd’s and some new ones in Murrayfield Wanders 3rd’s and Currie 3rd’s.   I don’t think we should be intimidated by these names and treat each game the same. As we showed last season, with two games against Watsonians 4th’s, we can compete with these teams and there is no difference in the standard of rugby we play.
The 2nd XV team this season will again be the usual mix of younger(whippets) and older (more talented) players. I am sure we will have the usual stalwarts (Davie “Troll” Dalgleish, Russell “oh, ma hamstring” Featherstonehaugh and Gordon ”Super G, Saviour of the Club” Smith) with probably some guest appearances (Neil “the Enforcer” Elder, Stuart “Stringy, Eyeball Paul” Stevenson and Stuart “Yir Tea’s Oot Big Man” MacIntosh) as well.
Last season the most disappointing factor for me was cancelled games, usually at the last minute, which meant we ended up with no game. This, however, was not due to us not being able to field a team but mainly due to the opposition being short of players and on several occasions we even supplied players to others teams to make up the numbers. I would like to thank anyone, in advance, who is willing to play for opposition teams to make up the numbers. Other teams have done the same for us in the past, so it is nice to return the favour and without this we wouldn’t get a game.
There were several good wins and some close run matches last season so it would be our objective to improve in this and aim for an upper half of the table finish in the league. If we can get as many players as possible attending training on a regular basis it certainly improves our chances of achieving this. So please make the effort to come along, even if it is one night a week
The 2nd XV, in my opinion, has two main purposes: players looking to gain experience and use it as a stepping stone to 1st XV and the rest of us looking for a run around and a reason not to go shopping with the wife. Notable promotions from the 2nd’s last year were Andy Hamilton, John Johnston and Graham Ewart. These players, along with several other players from the 2nd’s, made valuable contributions to the 1st’s last year and will continue to do so this season I’m sure. Whatever your motive for turning out for the 2nd’s, the main factor should be enjoyment.