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News Article |
| ROSS SUTHERLAND 15 MORAY 20 |
| Tue 21st Sep 2021 |
 Moray made it three out of three when they narrowly defeated Ross Sutherland by 20 points to 15 in a hard-fought Tennent’s Caledonia North Region League Division 2 encounter at Invergordon last Saturday.
The Elgin side kicked off and following a brief flurry into the 22 early doors, it was the home side that dominated the early part of the match.
 In the 12th minute, this pressure produced the opening score. A series of phases took Ross into the 22 and a prodded kick drifted into touch for a Moray line-out, 10 metres out. The ball was pinched at the line and moved wide to the centre who broke the tackle and scored a converted try for a 7-0 lead.
It was pretty much one way at this point and four minutes later, they extended their lead. The home side were quicker to a break down and turned over possession. The ball was moved wide and after a number of passes, the line was reached out wide, this time for an unconverted try and 12-0.
Moray needed to get back into the game quickly and collectively they did with more aggression and control in attack and defence.
 Around the 25-minute mark, they put their first points on the board. Some good hands and charging play took them into touch, close by the goal-line. Ross took and cleared to 18 metres out. Clean ball was secured and very quickly moved wide to wing Archie Duncan who managed to hold off two tacklers and squeak in at the corner. Stand-off Rory Millar superbly landed the wide kick to narrow the lead to 12-7, the half-time score.
The Invergordon side tried to regain the impetus in the early part of the second half but the game was very competitive and both sides cancelled any attack out with good defence.
 In the 68th minute, the Ross scrum-half was yellow carded for a high tackle on Millar who from the resultant penalty narrowed the lead further to 12-10.
 From the restart kick, the Elgin side scored the pick of the tries of the afternoon. The ball was gathered by Millar and in contact, he offloaded to prop Lewis Scott who barged his way through the home defence and made around 40 metres before being stopped. He managed to offload to supporting centre Cameron Hughes who made ground, offloaded to wing-forward Aaron Ruck who reciprocated to allow Hughes to score. Millar added the conversion for 12-17.
 Moray were now having their best period of the match with good ground being made by the forwards as well as some astute kicking by the backs putting real pressure on the home side.
In the 74th minute, they extended the lead to 12-20 when Millar landed a penalty for offside around the 22.
 The Invergordon side rallied late on in the match and in the 79th minute were handed a penalty, 18 metres out, in front of the posts. With a view to looking for the win, they kicked the penalty for 15-20 to set up a final opportunity from the restart. Millar put up a high drop-kick which created the opportunity to turn over ball at the breakdown and kick the ball to touch for the win.
After going down by two tries early in the game, the squad collectively should great spirit and resolve to turn the game around. The forwards put in a great shift up front and behind the scrum, the backs used ball well through speed of hand and tactical kicking.
 This Saturday, Moray have another big game when they welcome Aberdeenshire to Morriston on the league business.
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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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