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News Article |
| MUNTLY U13/14S MADE TO FIGHT FOR VICTORY ON THE ROAD IN ORKNEY |
| Thu 28th Sep 2017 |
 Muntly faced a stern test in difficult conditions away at Orkney last Sunday.
Kicking off into a fierce wind the opening exchanges were extremely tight, with Orkney making good use of the wind to apply sustained pressure in the Muntly 22.
The Muntly defence however, proved up to the task with tenacious tackling from 2nd Row Charlie Anderson, winger Roddy Manson and centre Lewis Hay keeping the Orkney strike runners at bay.
The pack was also playing its part in the rear-guard action by dominating the set piece and taking the vast majority of scrum ball.
With Orkney often infringing over the off-side line, Muntly managed to make several excursions up the pitch through strong running from prop Scott Riach, flanker Jai Obrien and 2nd Row Euan May and with fly-half Innes Parkin and centre Murdo Reid making good in-roads in the back line, it was all that Orkney could do to kick to clear their lines.
With no score yet registered, and the opening period drawing to a close, it was an attempted Orkney clearance that provided Muntly with a half chance to take the lead, that they duly took.
Gratefully receiving the skewed clearance kick, scrum-half George Lunn spotted daylight around the fringes and sprinted through to dive over and open the scoring.
 With the wind at their backs for the second period, Muntly started to look much the better side; but for a couple of spurned chances they would have easily put the fixture to bed.
That said, they did manage to run in 3 tries with the majority of the action taking place in the Orkney 22.
Winger Mylo McBain was the grateful recipient of quick thinking by Parkin and Lunn to score; Lunn’s pass, from yet another scrum win against the head, found Parkin switching the point of attack to the left and he duly found McBain who sprinted in.
McBain soon picked up his second try after No8 Gregor Clark broke from his own half with Anderson in support; Anderson’s pass was then expertly taken by the diminutive Reid who set McBain away once more.
When Clark then stole a lineout on halfway and left the defence for dead to score under the posts, Muntly must have thought that they were home and dry; the reality proved to be somewhat different as Orkney fought deep into Muntly territory against the wind to score before the break.
Despite a valiant defensive tackling effort from full-back Fraser Whitecross and centre Blair Garrick, Orkney manufactured an overlap on the right and opened their account for the day.
The third session opened with Orkney in the ascendancy and forcing Muntly into defensive errors; it was a spilled ball in the 22 that let them in to score their second try and to give them a sniff of an unlikely come-back.
This was soon followed by another when sustained pressure turned over the ball centre-field and a break on the left allowed the Orkney left winger to sprint in, despite the close attention of winger Jack Mackillop.
With Orkney now within touching distance, Muntly managed to take stock, re-invigorate their defensive effort and play more accurate, percentage rugby.
The pack, now reinforced by Jenson Fathers, Grant Hendry and Alasdair Hutcheon secured tidy scrum ball and scrum half Ross Gifford supplied Parkin who set MacBain away in space once more, to complete an excellent hat-trick.
With significant time remaining on the clock, Muntly then did extremely well to hold Orkney at bay, with some top notch tackling from Whitecross, Gifford and Clark.
It was with some relief that Muntly squad greeted the final whistle of what was very hard fought encounter, having kept their 100% recored intact.
Parkin added 2 conversions in the difficult kicking conditions to give a final score of Muntly U13/U14s 17 – 10 Orkney U13/14s.
A squad of 29 youngsters had made the long journey north and every single one of them had played their part in a significant victory.
The Muntly coaches were impressed with fighting spirit displayed and way that they all adapted to the difficult conditions. The squad will now enjoy a break from matches, before their conference campaign continues towards the end of October.
Muntly U14s/13s: Rory Cameron, Gregor Clark (C), Andrew Scott, Leon Ross, Lewis Hay, George Lunn, Euan May, Innes Parkin, Scott Riach, Corey Rizza, Fraser Whitecross, Charlie Anderson, Jenson Fathers, Grant Hendry, Alasdair Hutcheon, Murdo Reid, Jake Harrison, Ross Gifford, Josh Austin, Blair Garrick, Roan Phillips, Roddy Manson, Joe Elvines, Jack Mackillop, Mylo McBain, Jai O’Brien, Ethan Mair, Callum Robson, Lewie Austin
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| Aberdeenshire |
12 |
46 |
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11 |
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12 |
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12 |
19 |
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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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