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News Article |
MORAY U18 V ORKNEY 01/09/13 |
Tue 3rd Sep 2013 |
Moray u18’s kicked off the new season with an impressive victory away to Orkney by 28 points to 14. The new look side with more than half the squad having moved up from u16 level played an intelligent game in the driving wind and rain.
Orkney kicked off the match and it was the Moray lads who settled quickly and worked their way into the home teams 22 with some good driving play by their forwards. From a penalty in the 22 the pack work the ball across the pitch with several drives and rucks setting up quick ball and Lewis Scott opened the scoring driving over near the posts. Calum Gaffney converted to open up an early seven point lead.
Orkney got into their stride and the game developed into a test of the 2 packs strength and resolve. There was some excellent driving and support play and equally good defence from the backs and loose forwards.
After 20 minutes Orkney were on the scoreboard with a well deserved try after setting up several rucks and drives in the Moray 22 before one of their forwards crashed over. Orkney 10 struck a well taken conversion form out wide to level the score.
The game was well balanced for the rest of the half with neither side able to add to their tally.
Moray kicked of the second half with a slight wind advantage but it was still pouring rain and making the ball very difficult to handle.
The Moray lads kept at their task and managed to get their backline moving in the tricky conditions forcing their way up to within 5 m of the Orkney line after 10 minutes. They took a scrum against the head and no 8 Drew Cooper picked up and drove through 2 cover tackles to get Moray back in the lead. Fly half Gaffney made a tricky conversion to extend the lead to 14-7.
The home team then went down to 14 men when they had a player sin binned for 10 minutes for a dump tackle.
Moray extended their lead after 17 minutes with hooker Lewis Scott finishing off another good set of forward drives and rucks with a try near the posts which was converted by Gaffney to open the lead to 21-7.
The Orkney lads were not about to give up though and from the restart their 10 kicked long into the Moray 22 and poor decision making by Moray led to a quickly taken throw being intercepted to allow the home team back into the game with a converted try to make it 21-14.
Moray refocused and played a simple game kicking the ball down the touch line and using the pack to drive into the Orkney defence and set up good ruck ball which finally allowed them to seal the match with 7 minutes left when the ball went wide and captain Lewis Scott popped up in the back line to crash over for his hat trick. Gaffney converted to make it 28-14.
This was an excellent first outing for Moray’s new look u18’s – the whole squad played their part in what was an entertaining game in spite of the weather. There was a steely determination in the way they executed their game plan and if this level of commitment is kept up then they should be a force to be reckoned with this season.
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