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News Article |
| MORAY 1ST XV 21 NORTH POLICE SCOTLAND 24 |
| Thu 29th Nov 2018 |
 A late converted try by North Police Scotland resulted in Moray 1st XV narrowly losing their latest Tennent’s Caledonia League Division 2 North fixture, by 24 points to 21, at Morriston last Saturday.
The Police side got off to a great start when they opened the scoring after only 2 minutes. The home team were caught offside at a ruck, 18 metres out and the ball was prodded to an attacking line, 5 metres out.
 Clean ball was taken off the top and opened to their big stand-off who barged his way through the defence to score a converted try for a 0-7 lead.
From the restart, Moray regained the ball and put together a number of attacking phases in the 22 which led to a number of penalties being conceded.
 This resulted in good field positions and strong assaults on the line but the defence stood strong.
In the 13th minute, another penalty was awarded, this time adjacent to the posts and stand-off Rory Millar stepped up, landed the kick, reducing the lead to 3-7.
 The Elgin side continued to press but could not break the well marshalled visiting defence.
In the 25th minute, however, they added three further points when Millar landed a second penalty kick following ‘holding on the deck’ decision in the 22.
 Moray were winning plenty ball and putting the Police side under great pressure in their 22 with good tactical kicking and some good driving play.
In the 32nd minute, a penalty on the 22 was kicked to touch, 5 metres out. Clean ball was taken at the line and after a number of driving phases, second-row Gareth Dunscombe barged over the line for an unconverted try and a 11-7 lead.
A few minutes later, a high tackle gave the Police the opportunity to pressurise from an attacking line-out but initially the home defence stood up well before an attacking scrum 5 was awarded.
 The home forwards were scrummaging well and put in a big drive but somehow the ball came out, was moved wide and following a couple of phases later, the inside-centre picked a line, broke the defence and scored a converted try to regain the lead at 11-14.
This gave the visitors heart and they went on the offensive but defence stood strong.
In the final play of the half, the Elgin side gave away a penalty in front of the posts and the resultant points took the half-time score to 11-17.
 Moray started the second half brightly and in the 50th minute, they regained the lead.
A line on the 22 was taken against the throw and following a ruck, the ball opened to Prop Mark Taylor coming at pace. He brushed aside a couple of tackle attempts to score under the posts with Millar adding the conversion points for 18-17.
 The visitors tried to respond but in the 56th minute, the home side turned defence into attack which was stopped by a high tackle in front of the posts. Scrum-half Andrew McBean stepped up and landed the kick to extend the lead to 21-17.
Three minutes later, another chance to extend the lead presented itself when a penalty was conceded but unfortunately Millar’s kick came back off the upright.
Moray seemed to have control of the game but the sucker punch came with only 3 minutes left on the clock.
 The Police danger man, their outside-centre, who had been managed well all afternoon, broke a tackle on his own 22, outpaced the cover to the touch-line before he cut back across field and ran in to score. He converted his own try for a 21-24 lead.
Moray tried hard to respond in the last minutes but the Police held on for the tight 21-24 victory.
It had been a really good all-round display from the Moray side who were very unfortunate not to have taken more from this game.
They were the dominant side for large spells of this game but were scuppered late on by a piece of individual brilliance.
This Saturday Moray 1st XV are away to Ross Sutherland on 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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