Grangemouth players had mixed fortunes over last weekend.
At Pink Bowl
Fraser Thomson, playing with the London Barbarians had seven wins and two losses and came in at 9th place for the tournament. The two teams the Barbarians lost to were effectively the same two teams the Broncos lost to in the group stages of the Flagging New Year in January. Waldorf Wanderers and Hague Hyenas (Dutch Lions).
Meanwhile, Callum and Kevin Woods, with the Carluke Cobras came in 4th in the tournament with five wins, one tie and three losses. Just goes to show how important the draw in a tournament can be.
Well done guys.
A Broncos/Colts team travelled to the Nuola Indian Summer tournament in Doncaster. On paper, the group they were in loo
ked like a reasonable challenge.
First game against the Wigan Bandits had the Broncos ahead 20 – 7 at the half, through 2 TD catches from Jimmy Thomson, plus XPs from Gordon McSherry and Daniel McGill. A third TD by McSherry capped a drive with Jimmy Thomson replacing QB and Brown while he dealt with a minor injury.
In the second half, the fortunes were reversed, with the Bandits scoring two TDs either 
side of a questionable Safety call from the refs. The Bandits won the game by 1 point.
Game 2 against the Chorley Buccaneers looked like ending in a 0 – 0 tie. Until Brown threw a jump ball for McSherry as time expired. After a couple of bites at the cherry, Gordy came down clutching the ball for the win.
Game three against the Sheffield Vipers was expected to be the toughest game. So when Brown threw a pass to Mark Wallace in the end-zone, then an XP to Thomson, the Broncos had their noses in front. Unfortunately, the Broncos couldn’t maintain the pressure against a strong Vipers squad. Sheffield scored three unanswered TDs for an 18 – 6 win.
Into the next round, and the Broncos faced another full strength team from the Mansfield Honey Badgers. They managed to keep pace for a good part of the game, with Brown finding Steven Cliff in the end-zone. However, by this point the Broncos were down to seven players with McSherry off to deal with a dislocated finger. The Honey Badgers hurry-up offence did the damage and the Broncos went down 12 – 6.
In the fifth game of the day, the Broncos had already agreed that Daniel McGill could play at QB to give Brown a run at Receiver. Unfortunately, the Broncos rarely pressured the Newcastle Blackhawks. Another loss to finish the day. 13 – 0.
On the face of it a disappointing day for the Broncos…. until you realise that the Vipers won the tournament and the Bandits beat the Blackhawks in the Plate final. That puts into perspective how far the development players from the Broncos have come.