After the summer break we were all still on a high from winning the BT Bowl and looking forward to a season where we could really push on. Sure a couple of old hands gave up the ghost but we're young and there are exciting prospects coming through from U18s. What's not to look forward to?

Well the season started ... no scrub that....it never really started for us. Games happened and we were there at the same time. Yeah there were a few highs (who knew Bears could fly?) but too many lows.

Straight off we're into the North Bowl. Come on!

North Police were feisty and had a couple of centres doing serious damage to our defence. Somehow, once we got our noses in front in the second half we managed to hold out for a 43-38 win. First game. A bit rusty. Next round. It's all fine.

Next we're into a relaunched Brin Cup. Traditionally a 10s tourney, this season it was 15-a-side.

Anyway, Lossie pulled out because too many players were on deployment, we fair pumped Moray and then lost to Highland seconds by 5 points in a cracking game. Still thinking about the glorious way Kenny cut in off his wing to take the reverse pass from John and score. So that was that. Highland topped the group and we were out. Well done to them on beating Kinloss in the final.

A few games in and we'd lost 3 of our pack to injury - Gordo, Beefy, and Peachy's shark bite. Who wants summer rugby when the ground is brick hard?

Goodbye Brin, hello league and another different structure.

We started with a 29-29 draw with Lossie - a game we should have won - then lost at home 10-17 to Garioch in another game we should have won. That game set a tone for us because it was the first of many where we never switched on at the start and shipped two scores in the first 10 minutes. Who knew we had such a soft belly. Boy that was sore.

Then away to Banff. Beautiful October day for a game of rugby. Not that I was enjoying it. Banff were cutting us open all match but somehow we managed to dig deep and snatch a win. A game we probably should have lost.

We only played one more game that month - away to North Police and they caned us 41-22. Based on the Bowl game I expected a strong challenge but losing was disappointing.

November was, quite frankly, shit.

Grammar 2nds pulled the fixture on the 3rd, lost 36-47 at home to Mackie ( a good team but remember that soft belly?), and embarrassingly we failed to score a single point at Highland. They put 44 past us. Work was just great that monday morning with their supporters in the office. Yeah sure we progressed to the next round of the North Bowl but only because Lossie withdrew.

1st December. Pumped Moray (again!) by 40 points. Oh yes. Here we go. A bit late but let's get our season started.

25-10 win over Lossie. Ya dancer. Here we go!

Nope. Hello Scottish weather. No bowl game. Ah well, here comes christmas. And a wee bit of apathy in some quarters.

Can't field a team to go to Garioch? Unheard of. Flu? Pah! Easy for me to say standing on the touchline with my 14 layers.

Are we getting a game then?

Dumped out the Bowl by Aberdeenshire in another game we should have won. Yeah they went on the win at Murrayfield but that's not the point. That could have been us. Should have been. League form was guff but this was the Bowl. This was our Bowl. The hopes of a nation (well, two counties) dashed. I could greet. Maybe did.

Right, no more Murrayfield glory to look forward to let's get on with the league. The win over Banff was not so much of a game it was more a catalogue of head-in-hands moments against two men and their dog (sorry Ian and Connor) with a get out of jail free card thrown in at the end. Banff deserved more from what they put into the game.

Harsh? Maybe. Worse was to follow.

We went on a run of 7 straight defeats. Started with a home defeat to Grammar (who skelped us in the return fixture in the second last game of the season), a heavy 64-29 defeat at Mackie,a home defeat to North Police (haven't we played them like 5 times already?????), a nil points defeat at Garioch, 41-10 defeat at Moray (have we no pride?), and culminating in a 0-62 defeat at home to Highland.
At.
****ing.
Home.

To be fair, Highland averaged 11.5 points concede per game in the league and were undefeated. We averaged three times that and deserved to finish where we did. No complaints.

It's not all doom and gloom.

Righto, time to spin this and say we didn't underperform, it was a season of transition. There, that's better. That's the reason things didn't quite click, because if they had then some teams would have got a proper doing.

There were actually positives in the season that we can take forward into next season, particularly the emergence of U18 talent. Plenty of the boys can hold their own and will only be better players for the experience they got.

try of the season - Bear's. When a front row player scores that's it as far as I'm concerned.

Player of the season - struggled with this, no real stand outs for me but probably JJ for consistency.

I would just like to say a personal thanks to every player who pulled on the jersey this season, even if only for a fleeting appearance, especially the hard core who stuck it out for every game, and to those who put up with my crap all season. Love each and every one of you.

Time to look forward. New season, new start, blank slate. I honestly cannot wait.