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News Article |
| MORAY U18 V MACKIE 1/12/12 |
| Mon 3rd Dec 2012 |
Moray made the journey down to Stonehaven on Saturday for their final away fixture in the league against Mackie. In a tight match which Moray led for 70 minutes they suffered a 22-21 defeat going down to a last second try.
Mackie kicked off on a crisp day and the Moray lads enjoyed the early pressure in the match – good line kicking by Ewan Stuart pushed them into the home teams 22 and from a lineout the forwards drove to the Mackie line winning a penalty. A quick tap was passed out to stand off Duncan
Steven who burst through the defence to score. Lewis McDonald converted to give them an early 7 point lead. Moray continued to press Mackie and Macdonald on the wing intercepted a midfield pass on half way and sprinted to within 5 m of the try line before the Mackie defence caught him. Raoul Sutcliffe in close support was unable to gather the loose ball. The visitors maintained the pressure and Mackie were trying desperately to break out of defence running the ball from their own try line. When the home team did finally get into Moray territory, Moray centre Ewan Stuart intercepted another ball in midfield outside his own 22 and sprinted the length of the pitch to score under the posts. McDonald converted to make it 14-0 after 25 mins.
Moray continued to press the Mackie back line whenever they had the ball and winger McDonald was unlucky on a couple of occasions not to score with good breaks and support play.
Mackie managed to get themselves into the Moray half after kicking a penalty from half way to touch on the 22. From the lineout Moray gave away another penalty and this gave the home team a 5 m scrum option which the used effectively to allow their scrum half to pick up, scuttle over and score making it Mackie 5 Moray 14 at half time.
Moray’s started the second half poorly and from a scrum on half way Mackie spun the ball wide to their winger who went past 3 Moray players on his way to score under the posts to make it 12-14 and transform the game.
Moray did pick things up after this early setback and from a scrum on half way their backline ran a set move which got them up to the Mackie 22 where they won another scrum. The ball was again moved down the backline and centre Josh Grundie powered through in midfield to score under the posts which allowed an easy conversion for MacDonald to make it 12-21.
Mackie were still fighting and were unlucky not to score when they moved the ball down their backline before switching it back across the pitch to their prop who knocked on with the try line in sight. They were not to be denied though and after winning a scrum and sucking in the Moray defence with a series of rucks they drove over from short range to make the score 17-21 after 20 minutes of the second half.
Moray were needing to raise their game but didn’t help themselves by losing a player to the sin bin for another penalty after being warned by the referee. To their credit they managed to keep Mackie at bay during this period and even threatened the home team with a good break up the blind side with some effective offloading play by the backs taking them to within 10 m of the Mackie line.
Moray were restored to 15 players for the last 5 minutes of the game and were hanging on to their lead but the home team put on a determined performance and when the Moray lads lost their own scrum 10 m out Mackie quickly moved the ball wide to let their winger touchdown and snatch the win with the last play of the game.
This was a pulsating match to watch and Moray had opportunities which weren’t taken to clinch victory. More discipline on the pitch and composure in defence is needed and some of the ruthlessly efficient play from the previous weeks win at Grammar would have helped Moray win a game which they let slip. This weekend they face a tough Orkney side in their final league match at Morriston.
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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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