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News Article |
| ABERDEENSHIRE 2NDS 15 MORAY 8 |
| Wed 29th Oct 2014 |
Moray travelled to Woodside, Aberdeen last Saturday in their latest BT Caledonia League Division 2 North fixture and were narrowly beaten by 15 points to 8 by table topping Aberdeenshire 2nds.
For a number of reasons, the Elgin side took to the field with nine personnel and positional changes from the previous week but the team came away with the respect of their unbeaten opponents along with a losing bonus point. It says a lot for the squad that they were disappointed that they had not forced at least a draw and who are now looking forward to the return fixture at Morriston.
The home side started brightly and after just 4 minutes and period of pressure, were given the opportunity to put the first points on the board when flanker Neil Wiseman was adjudged to have deliberately knocked on. The kick was pulled wide however, leaving the score nil all.
In the 9th minute, Shire were handed another penalty. This time they felt confident enough to opt for the scrum. A huge push by the visitors, however, won the ball against the head and they cleared their line.
The early pressure continued and in the 14th minute, the Aberdeen side eventually opened the scoring. The opportunity arose when a poor clearance kick was fielded by the dangerous home backs and they produced a move that saw them score an unconverted try in the corner for a 5-0 lead.
The Elgin side began to play their way into the game and with a bit of luck could have broken the defensive line on a couple of occasions. In the 19th minute they had a 3 point opportunity for an infringement at a scrum but Ewan Stuart narrowly missed
The visitors continued to compete well and were awarded a penalty on the half hour mark when Shire were pinged for not rolling away from the tackle. This time Stuart knocked the ball over, reducing the lead to 5-3.
From the ensuing restart, the Aberdeen side stretched their lead when some poor tackling allowed the winger to launch an attack from midfield. With the defence sucked in and in disarray, an unconverted try was scored in the opposite corner for a half time lead of 10-3.
The early part of the second half was quite a turgid affair with a lot of hard work by the Moray team in the tackle, in order to keep the shire runners out. The big Shire pack tactic of driving mauls was well defended by the visiting forwards. The Elgin side themselves had a couple of chances in this period but did not manage to get themselves over the whitewash.
In the 60th minute, however, the home forwards breached at a line out and the ball was fed to the back line who ran in a easy try out wide. The conversion was missed but the lead was now 15-3.
To their credit, the Moray side rallied and took the game to the opposition. The game plan had been to move the heavy Shire forwards around and it was working as they were visibly tiring.
A couple of strong runs were stopped in the tackle but the passage of play resulted in a line-out, 5 metres out. The ball was cleanly taken, secured and from the resultant maul, prop James Taylor spun off, broke the defence and dived over the line for a well deserved try. The conversion was missed but the lead had reduced to 15-8.
Moray continued to have the upper hand until the end of the game but did not manage to create a clear scoring opportunity, leaving the final score Aberdeenshire 2nds 15, Moray 8.
The home side knew they had been in a real contest and been tested but were full of praise for the young Moray side who had worked hard all afternoon and had shown great tenacity and skill against the table toppers.
This Saturday, Moray return to Aberdeen to play Aberdeen Wanderers in a BT Caledonia League Division 2 fixture. With the change in the clocks, kick-off is now 2pm.
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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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