The same could not be said of the rugby however. First game was against one of the Stirling County teams and Madras started well, showing good formation and confidence and Matthew Brown was rewarded with a try early on. This woke Stirling up and the game became a tough tussle with Stirling matching Madras' first and managing to squeeze in two more before half time. Not dispirited, however, Madras kept pushing at the defensive line and Griffin Levy and Archie Stewart-Wilson both managed to score good tries but with Stirling managing to score themselves, the score was 4-3 to Stirling at the end. Madras did not display the same fervour in the next game however against a weaker team, West of Scotland. Despite starting well, Kim Pearson scoring two lovely quick tries, they lost their momentum and West scored before half time. It was a disappointing second half with Madras allowing West through due to bunching and leaving gaps in defence and once West figured that out they exploited it fully and the score at the end was 5-2. Madras were looking forward to playing Murrayfield Wanderers next, who they had had a tight match with at Kinross, but seemed to completely lose focus and made too many mistakes and succumbed to a 6-0 defeat, which even surprised the Wanderers' coaches. The last game seemed to reset the equilibrium however, with Madras in another tough battle with the other Stirling side. Madras struck first with an opportunistic try from Craig Sloan, but Stirling quickly countered and scored themselves. Madras went on the attack again and Archie worked really hard to score the second try. Stirling matched them again and turned over Madras to score again before half time. There was superb passage of play in the second half where Madras withstood sustained attack from Stirling and managed to clear their lines and almost score themselves before losing the ball in a tumble and Stirling's winger sped back up the touchline to score the final try, leaving a disappointing 4-2 score at the end.
Special mention must go to Ruaridh Angus who again was always the first to arrive at the ruck and protect Madras ball.
Madras can be pleased with their improving defence in places but need to stay spread out to cover both sides of the pitch. A beneficial day, highlighting areas to work on ahead of next week's home tournament.