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News Article |
| MORAY U16 V DEESIDE U16 08-01-2012 |
| Mon 9th Jan 2012 |
 Moray resumed their NE Premier League programme after a 6 weeks break due to bad weather and Xmas holidays with an excellent win over a strong Deeside 15 at Morriston on Sunday.
The home team kicked of playing up the slope in the first half and had the early pressure with 2nd row Stephen Hughes charging down a clearance kick.
The Moray lads continued to dominate with a scrum 5 m out for the visitors being turned over before the ball was worked wide through a couple of phases and finally passed out to Kieran Young on the wing who went over in the corner to open the score.
A difficult conversion was missed by Ewan Stuart to make the score 5-0 after 5 minutes.
Deeside came straight back at Moray from the restart and forced play up to within 5 m of the home try line before the ball was cleared to half way.
 From here the Moray lads opened up the game with good offloading and quick ball to threaten the Deeside line but were unable to convert the pressure into points.
Deeside were playing their part in a tense game and worked their way up into the Moray 22 with a couple of touch kicks from penalties.
The Moray defence was well organised and Deeside were frustrated in their attempts to cross the Moray lone by some dogged tackling and good clearance kicks.
Finally after 25 minutes the visitors crossed the line in the corner to tie the score at 5 all.
Moray responded and a break from half way by scrum half Matty Smith was well supported by hooker Lewis Scott who drove the ball to within 5 m of the Deeside line.
Moray spent the last 5 minutes of the half camped in the Deeside 22 but were unable to add points before half time.
The second half continued to be a tight affair with both teams playing some excellent rugby.
Moray opened up a lead after 12 minutes of the half when from a scrum on the Deeside 5 m line stand off Duncan Steven switched the attack to the blind side and drew the defence before offloading to winger Kieran Young who went over to score close to the corner.
Ewan Stuart kicked a superb conversion to make it 12-5.
Deeside came straight back at Moray and the home team’s defence was given a stern test for the next 10 minutes with the visitors camped in the Moray 22.
 A series of scrums on 5 m gave Deeside opportunities to score from no 8 pickups but the Moray defence was up to the task and eventually they managed to relieve the pressure with a great clearance kick by Josh Valentine at centre.
Moray then put the visitors under pressure with well placed line kicks and a break in the midfield from flanker Trevor Jones but were unable to stretch their lead and finish the game off.
The visitors had one last opportunity to try and snatch a draw in the last play but dogged defence and a great tackle by Will Davidson kept them at bay and the game finished with a victory for Moray 12 point to 5.
This was a very entertaining game with both teams showing great commitment.
The Moray lads showed the same levels of skill and purpose they had been playing with before the enforced break and have moved themselves into 2nd place in the league with the prospect of making the Caledonia league within their grasp.
Next week they are away to Aberdeen Wanderers for the penultimate NE premier league match.
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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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