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News Article |
| MUNTLY U13/14S DISMANTLE STRONG ORKNEY OUTFIT WITH SILKY TEAM DISPLAY |
| Tue 5th Sep 2017 |
 Muntly continued their winning start to the season with a 7 try, 26 – 8 win at home to a strong Orkney outfit.
On a perfect day for rugby, the early exchanges were extremely tight with both sides struggling to make significant gains through the opposition’s defence.
Early tackles from prop Charlie Anderson and winger Fraser Whitecross set the tone for the Muntly defence.
An early Gregor Clark break almost saw Muntly open the scoring, but the ball was spilled from the subsequent off-load.
With Muntly starting to edge both territory and possession, the Orkney defence did well to keep them at bay, with several chances being held up just short of the line.
Eventually, however, the pressure told and with hooker Josh Austin taking an Orkney scrum against the head, a clever switch to the blind side by fly-half Euan Willetts saw the defence wrong footed and he managed to stretch to the line for the opening score.
An undeterred Orkney side continued to strive to get back into the game, only for excellent Muntly defensive work, particularly from winger Mylo McBain and prop Scott Riach, to hold them at bay.
 Muntly stretched their lead just before the break when full-back Tom Letch finished of some fine forward re-cycling work and slick handling; a quick free kick made good ground and excellent ruck-work from the forwards set the backs free down the left side to out flank the covering defence.
Despite a fiery start to the second period from Orkney, Muntly made the game safe with 3 unanswered tries.
The first came after a significant period of Orkney pressure; breaking out from deep in their own half, Muntly centres Innes Parkin and Lewis Hay made excellent headway up the centre of the pitch.
Quick recycling at each breakdown enabled scrum-half George Lunn to exploit space on the right and slick handling down the back line saw the ball arrive in the hands of Letch to score.
The speed of Moray re-cycling was clearly causing the Orkney defence problems; flankers Corey Rizza, Joe Elvines and Roan Phillips, along with No8 Clark were giving their opposite numbers a torrid time.
 Quick ball once more allowed Parkin to glide through the Orkney line and surge into the opposition 22; held up just short, the ball was fired to Willets, coming at pace on a smart angle, to charge over for his second try of the afternoon.
Orkney, heads un-bowed, continued to try and pressurise the Muntly line and gained significant territory direct from the restart; however, Muntly defensive pressure told and a spilled ball was picked up by Parkin in his own 22 who escaped down the left.
With Letch in support, superb pass, support and off-load interplay saw the pair exchange passes at least 4 times to elude the defence and for Letch to race in to complete his hat-trick.
The session concluded with Orkney desperate to cross to open their account and they all but did, with only a desperate last ditch tackle holding them up over the line.
 With Muntly ringing the changes for the final session, Orkney caught them on the hop. Early exchanges were once more tight. Good work from Murdo Reid and Alasdair Hutcheon helped to keep the Orkney attack at bay; however, the pressure eventually told after an Orkney catch and drive down the line from a lineout saw them cross the line.
Struggling to re-organise defensively, Muntly then leaked a second try as Orkney exploited space wide on the right and took advantage of some missed tackles to go over.
Muntly did well to answer in kind after addressing their defensive shortcomings; having advance directly from the re-start, an attacking, central scrum once more allowed the backs to run free with Letch latching onto the end of the backline to out-flank the cover defence and to score under the posts.
Determined to not concede a session to their visitors, the Muntly defensive effort was upped and despite retaining possession, Orkney found themselves back-pedalling into their own half.
 With Roddy Manson bearing down on the Orkney backs, the ball was coughed up and a swift pick up from Letch saw him race clear to conclude the try scoring for the day.
With Parkin adding 4 conversions and Willetts one, Muntly ran out convincing winners, 26-8.
This was a much slicker performance from an outfit that was clearly starting to find its feet.
 A stern opposition was well dealt with through good application of the basics, some excellent supporting play and improved alignment in both attack and defence.
Muntly now look forward to hosting Stornoway next Saturday at Morriston playing fields.
Muntly U14s/13s: Rory Cameron, Gregor Clark, Lewis Hay, Tom Letch (C), George Lunn, Euan May, Innes Parkin, Scott Riach, Corey Rizza, Fraser Whitecross, Euan Willetts, Charlie Anderson, Thomas Eadon, Mostyn Findlater, Alasdair Hutcheon, Murdo Reid, Evan Sykes, Ross Gifford, Josh Austin, Arran Lawson, Blair Garrick, Roan Phillips, Roddy Manson, Joe Elvines, Jake Harrison, Mylo McBain
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Caledonia 2 North |
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| Aberdeenshire |
12 |
46 |
| Highland 2nd XV |
11 |
46 |
| Moray |
12 |
40 |
| Ross Sutherland |
10 |
22 |
| Banff |
12 |
19 |
| Mackie |
10 |
10 |
| Aberdeen Grammar 2nd XV |
9 |
1 |
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Last 1st XV Game |
| 1st XV Season (2021/22) |
| Banff 33 - 39 Moray |
| 5th Mar 22 - KO: 15:00 |
| Venue: Duff House |
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