Development Report AGM 2025
School program
Academy Program
Holiday Camps
Summer Camp 2024
Easter Camp 2025
Summer camp 2025
HYPERS
Notable Levels played:
Micros And Minis Report AGM 2025
Biggar Bairns
Coaching Team
Biggar Bairns covers children age 3-5 and continues to see between 15-20 children attending each week with 58 registered on Spond. Coaching for 2025/26 season needs to be confirmed as does coordination. Biggar Bairns continues to run on a pay per session basis charging £3 per session and we introduced monthly pay ins during this past season. Biggar Bairns will restart at the same time as the micros and minis for next season.
Micros
Coaching Team
We have 58 players registered to play at the Micros age groups of P1-P3. With around 22 players moving up to play P4 rugby next season. We will need to keep an eye on P2 numbers with currently only around 8 regular attendees and around 15 regular P1 players.
The P1/2 season went from strength to strength this year the children particularly enjoyed the festivals where they got to shine against the opposition. The cold weather is always a challenge for the younger groups with some getting cold and upset on the worst days. Nothing a hot chocolate and a bacon roll won’t sort out. The coaches this year were supported by Gordon McCulloch and Kirstyn Reive for the latter part of the season. Kirstyn and Gordon are taking the reins for the primary 3 group next year; there may be some availability challenges that we are looking at plan for and ensure any gaps are filled. This will leave Ben, Adam and Andrew in charge of the primary 1/2 group. Jennifer Peacock is taking charge as the manager for the p1/2 section.
P3s had good numbers this season and are looking forward to them breaking into their own P4 team next year where they will develop further and introduce contact to their game.
Primary 4
Playing Numbers - Start of Season - 15; End of Season - 20
Coaching Team
A good season for our P4 group with around 20 players representing the club and growth in numbers throughout the season. Highlights were how much more confident the kids came around the contact area. Coming third at Dumfries tournament and playing really good rugby at Watsonians tournament. Our team is often complimented on how well-behaved kids are, their sportsmanship and for the way they are trying to play rugby.
Areas for development include bringing in a mix of different coaches to help keep things fresh and hear different voices and coaching techniques. Suggest bringing some senior players down as well as coaches with different expertise from different age groups. It is challenging for coaches to ref and coach at home games and make subs so could do with additional support – from parent helpers, additional coaches and possibly have support from gents/ladies players to help ref home games using a rota system.
Primary 5
Playing Numbers - Start of Season - 24; End of Season - 27
Coaching Team
This has been another good season for our P5 team. Over the course of the season, we have gained another 2 players both from neighbouring clubs looking for a more structured club environment. Aside from this we have had one member rejoin after shying away from contact during P4. We finished the season with 27 players.
On the field it has been a season of ups and downs. In general, the group perform extremely well and are developing into what will become a strong team. Our Primary challenge is ensuring all players get adequate game time. Playing 6 a side there have been occasions this year where we have fielded 4 teams. Another challenge is the varying abilities within the group – to assist with this and try to develop all participants we always split teams as equally as possible and maximise game time.
Highlights this year are the team’s performance at the Biggar festival, winning the top try scorers award and several festivals including Boroughmuir, Currie and Watsonians where the team have been defensively very strong. We are looking forward to starting to ruck next year which we started working on at the tail end of the season.
Primary 6
Playing Numbers - Start of Season - 12; End of Season - 19
Coaching Team
Player attendance was consistent throughout the year, with 15 to 16 players regularly taking part in training and tournaments. The team showed strong commitment overall, and when fully switched on, demonstrated their potential to play cohesive and competitive rugby.
Highlights and Successes
The final tournament of the season was a standout moment. The team really came together with determination and a clear desire to play and win. We came agonisingly close to beating Lanark in the final match, which would have secured the tournament win — it truly felt like everything clicked.
The Glasgow Warriors event was another highlight, showcasing excellent teamwork and standout individual performances. These moments proved what the group is capable of when they are focused and playing with purpose.
Areas for Development
Consistency remains the biggest opportunity for growth. The team needs to be fully engaged from the first whistle to the final play. Some weeks we start strong, while other times we struggle to switch on.
From a coaching perspective, tackling and rucking still require significant work — particularly as hand-offs will become more prominent next season. Speed into play, urgency, and overall intensity need to improve, as we are still too hesitant and polite in key moments. Defensive organisation also needs attention. Line speed is often uneven, with players moving at different paces and creating gaps that opponents can exploit. When the team gets its defensive shape and pressure right, they can force errors and take control — but this needs to happen more consistently.
Finally, we should look to instil a team culture built around determination, desire, and intensity in everything we do — whether it’s a training session or a tournament. As coaches, we should explore ways to encourage this, perhaps by empowering natural leaders within the group to help drive this mindset.
Primary 7
Playing Numbers - Start of Season - 17; End of Season - 17
Coaching Team
This year’s P7s have had a phenomenal year. They are a special bunch as unlike most other P7 groups we have far more girls than boys! We have 6 boys and 11 girls! This lot of little warriors have beaten many teams this year with only a hand full of losses (most only by 1 point).
Recently they have won a tournament at Scotstoun playing their final on the main pitch at half time also winning the Boroughmuir festival and their final Moffat tournament playing teams from south west Scotland and a touring team from England. The way they all play together is unbelievable line speed the off loads and passing is amazing, there speed to breakdown is always impressive.
Moffat was their last tournament as a mixed team with them going off to their midi rugby teams which is the end of an era for them, but they will remain connected through the friendships and respect they have built within the team.
The boys will struggle at the start of the season to field an U13 side without help from other teams. Currently discussions are ongoing with Moffat to bring boys from the club to play under Biggar at the start of the season and the team will also play boys from the new U14s team based on their age eligibility if required and numbers allow it.
The girls move to U14 girls section where they will be a strong group.
Summary
This season saw us starting with 74 children playing micros/mini rugby and this grew to 116 active/paid
memberships. We saw a large number of P1s coming into the Micros group and recruited good numbers throughout the season via the work the community coaches do in schools and word of mouth. Observations are that micro numbers drop for away matches but we benefited from the new gym facility and the sports centre occasionally to ensure training could go ahead especially with some poor playing conditions.
Next season we hope to continue to see the same playing numbers and start to focus on growing numbers at P4 and P7 age groups.
Our mini festival was a great success at the start of the season and all teams who attended have committed to the 2025/26 festival again as a firm favourite for travelling teams and some very positive feedback.
All coaches across the Micros and Minis continued to do a fantastic job and creating such a great sense of
community within their teams. We also need to thank the team co-ordinators for their help and organisation to make everything run smoothly throughout the season.
The micros and mini season were rounded off with the awards and fun day on Sunday 18th May with over 140 children participating and along with parents and siblings attending the awards followed by an afternoon of games, soak the coach, tombola, kit swap and bouncy castle fun as well as the annual parents v players touch match! I will be passing over responsibility for the micros and minis to Joanne Kerr for next season. I wish her all the best and am confident that she will take on the role with great enthusiasm. Thanks to the committee, coaches, coordinators, parents and players for a really enjoyable tenure in the role. Best of luck for season 2025/26.
Trina Malone
Midi Report AGM 2025
The first half of the season up to December saw Biggar u13’s and u14’s participate in West Club fixtures against clubs like Kilmarnock, Ayr, West of Scotland, Cambuslang, Dumfries Saints, GHA and Greenock Wanderers. After Christmas, the SRU organised a few fixtures January to March 2025 then friendly fixtures were also organised to end of season (end of April 2025).
The u15’s and u16’s participated in National Conference 2 (August to November) playing against clubs like Ellon, Dunfermline, Falkirk, Perthshire, Dundee and Highland. The u16’s also participated in the National Youth Cup competition where they had 2 games playing against Boroughmuir and Kelso. They got to the quarter-final of the National Youth Shield competition in November against Highland which they won 29-17. They were drawn against Stirling for the semi-final and lost 26-5. The second half of the season the u15 and u16’s were entered into the West Youth Cup Competition playing 3 games against Dalziel (U15’s) and Cambuslang (U16’s), Ayr and GHA. The quarter final was against Cambuslang U15’s and Marr U16’s with the semi-final against West of Scotland U15’s (lost 24-19)
and Dumfries Saints U16’s (lost 41-26).
S1s (U13)
S1 started the season with 18 players and ended with 24. Not all could commit to playing every Sunday. The team had 3 coaches (John Wyllie, Bryan Cathcart and Andrew Bell) involved with the team. Esther Stewart is the team administrator. Bryan and Andrew are staying on to next season.
End of season awards occurred 11-May-2025: Coaches Player Alexander Bailie & Aidan Carmichael, Players Player Alexander Bailie, Most Improved Player Ben Alexander & Mannix McMillan and Biggar Spirit Callen Paterson.
S2s (U14)
S2 started the season with 15 players and ended with 23. The team had 3 coaches (David Murray, Brian Gilchrist and Douglas Notman) involved with the team. Eliz Gilchrist is the team administrator. All are staying on to next season.
End of season awards occurred 18-May-2025: Coaches Player John Murphy, Players Player Laird Murray, Most Improved Player Lewis Sloan and Biggar Spirit Ross White.
S3s (U15)
The S3s have 22 players. Three coaches (Stuart Plenderleith, Euan Lawrie & Stuart Harrison) are currently involved with the team. Anita Baskerville was the team administrator. All coaches are staying on to next season. Anita will hand the team administrator role to Pam Tennant for next season.
End of season awards occurred 30-May-2025: Coaches Player Edmund Neville, Players Player Kam Harrison, Most Improved Player William Mitchell and Biggar Spirit Robbie Kennedy & Jason McGuinness.
U16
The U16’s ended the season with 22 players. Two coaches (Nic Humphries and Calum McCallum) were involved with the team and Fraser Campbell was also involved at the beginning of the season. Pam Tennant is the team administrator. Nic and Calum will not coach u16’s next season. Pam will stay on as team administrator.
End of season awards occurred 30-May-2025: Coaches Player James Stewart, Players Player Caleb Cunningham and Biggar Spirit Nicol Johnstone.
There have also been a few boys playing in the Glasgow and West regional U16 age group – namely Max Elliot, Alex Tennant, James Stewart, Finlay MacKenzie and Harris Watson.
James Stewart also played in regional games for Glasgow Warriors U16’s.
Season 2025/26 will see the U13’s, U14’s & U15’s participating in a West Regional competition with fixtures arranged by the SRU. The U16’s will compete in the National 2 Club Conference against Ellon, Deeside, Dunfermline, Falkirk and Dundee. The U16’s will also compete in the National Youth Cup against Aberdeen Grammar in round 1 in August 2025.
Please let Laura know if you would be interested in coaching, either being assigned to a squad or as a reserve coach who we’d call on for specialist coaching to cover if we’re short due to holidays etc. We can arrange it to suit you!
Finally, a huge thanks must go to our coaches, team administrators, army of volunteers, parent helpers and supporters for their commitment during the season, we couldn’t do it without them!
Laura Watson
Girls Report AGM 2025
Under 10s and Under 12s
The U10s and U12s struggled to manage many games this year as numbers within the U12 mini team meant we couldn’t take them from their primary team. Whenever they did play they shone, and it is amazing to see so many Biggar girls in red at tournaments.
Coaches were Lewin Boyd, Michael Russell and Brian Thomas. Manager Alison Boyd
Prize winners were U10s, Spirit of Biggar -Rosie Miller, Player’s Player(joint)- Emma Brown, Libby Boyd, Coach’s Player – Niamh Littlejohn
U12s Spirit of Biggar -Freya Thomas, Player’s Player(joint)- Lexie Boyd, Kirstyn Russell, Isla Malone, Coach’s Player – Hazel Bell
Under 14s
This season the U14s played in a round robin series of games, initially within Glasgow north and laterally playing teams in Glasgow South. Due to numbers, the girls had to split into 2 teams so geographically were in very different places. A massive thank you to Alison and coaches for co-ordinating this and allowing the girls to have as much game time as possible.
Coaches: Lewin Boyd, David Storie, Andrew Cairns. Manager Alison Boyd
Spirit of Biggar -Grace Kane, Player’s Player-Alba Martin, Coach’s Player -Roisin McLelland, Most improved- Hannah Russell
Under 16s
We were the first club to enter 2 teams at one age grade into the national leagues and to top that, the girls won both. One team also won the National Bowl in an exciting final against Dumfries. A huge thank you to the coaches for managing logistics and allowing everyone to develop through game play time. The main part of the season culminated in the final at Murrayfield, an incredible experience despite the score.
Coaches: Chris Clarkson, Colin Cuthbertson, Andrew Baillie, Richard Mellanby. Managers Katie Mellanby & Claire Gemmell
U15s Spirit of Biggar -Lucy Preston, Player’s Player – Holly Frame, Most Improved- Emma Boyd, Coach’s Player – Neve Miller
U16s Spirit of Biggar – Sophie Earl, Player’s Player – Morgan Gemmell, Coach’s Player – Beth Bailie
Many of our U15s were nominated to attend the Player Development Hub: Lucy Preston, Zarah Martin, Neve Miller, Lola and Sophie Woodall- Novak, Jessica Oliver, Holly Frame, Courtney McVeigh, Jenna Johnstone, Caitlin Littlejohn and Emma Orr
Sophie Earl, Eve Hamilton, Cate Leiper, Neve Murray, Emma Wyllie, Beth Bailie, Morgan Gemmell all played for the West Region in the Regional Games Series
Emma Wyllie, Beth Bailie, Neve Murray and Cate Leiper have all played in national under 16 squads.
Under 18s
It was an odd season for the 18s due to the low number of games available to them. They had a slightly reduced squad as some girls played for the ladies and we were sad to lose Autumn and Imogen to injury. They played in the national league followed by the national cup and their season was largely finished by mid-December. We had a great game when a touring team came to visit in March and look forward to hosting more in the future. The girls got to the final at Murrayfield again and played an exciting final to be beaten in the end by Stirling.
Coaches- Scott Watson, Neil Laing, Paul Kane. Manager Katie Mellanby
Spirit of Biggar – Erin Stewart, Player’s Player – Annabel Godfrey, Coach’s Player – Tilda Henderson
We had a number of girls representing the West and East in the regional game series, Imogen Spence, Sarah Murray, Holly Wilson, Niamh Waters, Robyn Allan and Lilly Clarkson, Eve Walker, Skye Anderson, Niamh MacGregor, Caitlin Hoad and Kyra Calikes
Poppy Mellanby and Emily Coubrough played for the Glasgow Warrioes whilst Lisa Brown played for Edinburgh Rugby
Lisa Brown, Imogen Spence, Poppy Mellanby, Niamh Waters all represented Scotland U18s at 6 Nations and started in the winning team vs England.
Lisa Brown, Poppy Mellanby, Holly Wilson and Emily Coubrough are now in the extended squad for the U20s.
Katie Melanby
Colts Report AGM 2025
Season 2024/2025 maintained the coaching team of myself and Jordan Gray with Mark Yates moving on to coach the ladies team and Scott Watson taking a temporary break then rejoining the club coaching team taking charge of the U18 girls. Calum Taylor helped out with the odd session when family commitments would allow.
The Team remained in the National 2 Club Conference with Ellon, Highland, Falkirk, Dundee, Dunfermline and Perthshire. This was a reshuffled league from the previous year with Currie and Dumfries stepping up to National 1, Falkirk and Dundee taking up their places in National 2. The league was interspersed with National Cup/Shield/Plate fixtures playing from September to December before moving into regional cup competitions after Christmas.
Squad numbers at pre-season were moderate, with typically less than 15 boys training and up to 22 boys available for the conference fixtures. We were particularly short in the backs but managed to recruit a couple of boys from Dalziel who struggle for numbers at the U18 age group. The split of the squad was about 70% of second year colts and 30% new Colts. Pre-season was productive despite lower than hoped for numbers, the group worked hard and the spirits were good, the young boys stepping up putting a great effort in. We were dealt a blow when Robert Rennie broke collarbone on one of the early session thereby reducing the number of threequarters we had even more.
The National 2 conference went well on the whole, with 4 wins from 6 games with a notable victory over Falkirk and a very close run loss with the eventual Conference winners Dundee. A heavy loss away to Highland was particularly frustrating, as we totally dominated play but simply couldn’t convert chances, then eventually running out of steam due to injury and lack of numbers on the bench. The National Cup/Shield/Plate competition started with a tough fixture against Mackie, a Nat 1 side and while we certainly competed, we couldn’t keep in touch with a team with a large squad. Injuries and lack of availability meant we could not fulfil the 2nd cup fixture effectively ending our cup
due to being last in the mini league of 3. We picked up an evening game versus a Peebles development side and earned a much needed win in the Autumn to give us a boost.
In early January we entered West Regional Cup competition. We had a good win over Cartha and had oor best game of the season when we took a very youthful side to Nat 1 heavyweight Ayr, only losing out by 5 points in an outstanding display of character, with 4 U16’s making stunning debuts for us. This was followed with 2 more Nat 1 sides, GHA and West who demonstrated what high quality consistent game time every week bring to a full squad, both inflicting heavy defeats on us, but there was lots of learning from the experiences. Further injuries and a lack of numbers put an end to the season when we could not fulfil our final West Cup semi final versus Ardrossan.
The season was concluded with the squad winning the Dalziel 7s/10s tournament on a social day out.
While the numbers of games fulfilled and general league standings indicate a mediocre season, on reflection of what we have taken from it, its been a good season for this group of boys who managed to turn out to train and play each week. The lack of squad numbers, as has been the case for this group following the return from Covid, resulted in us not fulfilling potential. However, the senior Colts leaving this group should be commended for the effort they have put in over the years, its not been an easy journey for this group but a core of dedicated and hard working boys have held the squad together and it has been a pleasure to help these boys on their rugby journey. Next year’s Colts will be bolstered with good numbers coming up from the U16’s and more joined up training with next seasons U16s,
making for a better training environment.
Some of the boys made their transition to senior rugby pitching up and playing for the 2nds on a number of occasions and while it was a huge step up to play Intercity 2nd Team rugby all reports from Craig and Doug reflected well on them demonstrating they are competent to play at this level and will hopefully continue to develop and push for 1st and 2nd team places next season. I think it is really important that we work very hard to retain the services of all our graduating colts for a number of years after they leave the under 18s group. Last year was a good transition year with 7 of the previous years Colts leavers making the 1st team squad.
We had a sole representative in the regional squads at U18 level with Ruari Watson playing for both Glasgow and West and Glasgow Warriors inter regional championship games, while Ruari has had little game time with Biggar Colts this season due to commitments to his school rugby he has pushed on and managed to become a regular in the Biggar 1st Team.
The family of the late Jock Gray donated a new award to the Colts group following Jocks passing in August last year.
The Jock Gray Award for Hardest Working Colt of the Season was presented to Hyland Gracie on our recent awards night, a very worthy recipient. Other awards were Declan Roddie (Most Improved Player), Lewis Toal (Spirit of Biggar), Gregor McCuaig (Best Newcomer) and for the 2nd year running Beau Keenan won the Players Player Award.
That concludes the Colts Report for season 2024/2025.
Graeme Watson, Colts Head Coach, 24/06/2025.
