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1st XV - Report
Date: Saturday 3rd November 2012 - Kick Off: 14:00
RBS Caledonia Regional Leagues - Caledonia League Division 1
| Aberdeenshire | 53 | vs | 3 | Caithness |
Shire put in a strong second half showing to put the men from up north quickly back up the road.
Aberdeenshire First XV put half a century past a title contender at home for the second week in a row.
Staring down the barrel of the second half of the season, Shire were looking to put down yet another marker by sending Caithness on the long bus journey home with the bitter taste of defeat in their mouth. Both teams have enjoyed a rich vein of form recently, with Caithness winning all of their last seven, while Shire are undefeated winning 9 from 9. Both teams were in confident moods and playing good rugby, not to mention the league title still being very much up for grabs, therefore this promised to be a titanic clash.
Yet again, a big thanks goes out to all the people involved in getting the pitches in a playable condition as winter approaches, it was well worth the effort as the game did not disappoint!
As the crowd gathered just before kick-off, they were greeted by the echoes of the Shire first XV warm-up. The warm-up was fast paced and conducted with intensity.
Right from the kick-off both teams held nothing back, Shire’s Iain Redmond kicked the ball high and short, giving both teams a chance to compete for possession. Caithness kept their composure to begin a 4⅟2 minute uninterrupted back and forth joust for territory. The back three for both teams were tested repeatedly early doors under the high ball with the home team showing their tenacity and winning intent by returning several clearance kicks with interest, through running with the ball in-hand and putting the boot through it, to pin Caithness in their half.
The first period of play was brought to an end with a Shire knock-on brought through looking to push that pass too much, this did how ever give the Shire pack a chance to showcase their scrumming technique. With it still being early doors Caithness held their scrum steady to win the ball and with their 10 deep in the pocket they cleared to find touch, their first foray into the Shire half. Caithness were awarded a penalty a few phases after the line-out for “the tackler not releasing” giving their No.10 Liam Brims a chance to score the first points, which he took. 0-3 Caithness against the run of play.
Shire were straight back at Caithness from the kick off pinning them in their half, a repeat of the first few minutes of the game. Shire kept the pressure on and 5 minutes after the restart, Ross Bennie-Coulson went over in the corner from a well worked driving maul from a line-out. The difficult kick that followed was somehow converted by Gavin Cunningham to the surprise and delight of everyone. 7-3 Shire.
From the restart Caithness made a game of it, but it was clear the Shire pack were getting into their stride, having had a taste of scoring and starting to dominate the Caithness pack in the scrums and in open play, they began a series of “pick ‘n’ goes” smashing their way from the Caithness 10m line to 5m from the try line. The white line fever was interrupted by a call for the ball from the backs much to the relief of Caithness, who shot up in defense to put a stop to the attack. The relief was short lived though with the Shire pack pushing Caithness off their own ball in the scrum to win possession. The ball went open, then quickly back blind to a charging Ross Bennie-Coulson who crashed over for his second. This time everyone expected the conversion and Gavin didn’t disappoint swiftly following it up with a penalty kick as well, bringing the first half to a close 17-3 Shire.
The first half had claimed a casualty in the form of Iain Redmond who found himself trampled at the bottom of a ruck (unusual place for him) and got a nasty gash on his head as reward for his efforts. Matt Ball moved into fly-half, Kenny Penman to the wing and ‘The Cave-man’ came on to smash some heads together.
The second half began much as the first half ended, with Shire dominating up front pinning Caithness in their half. Shire’s attritional style of forward play created gaps out wide for the backs and James Patterson didn’t need prompting to score against his boyhood club as he sliced through the Caithness defence, but not to be out done and not content with two, Ross Bennie-Coulson was on the charge again (the thought of passing never on his mind) tearing through Caithness and over the line for try number 3, both converted by Gavin Cunningham. 31-3 Shire.
Caithness were down at this point but definitely not out and came back at shire but were a bit over eager and gave away a penalty right in front of the sticks, easy picking for on form Gavin. 34-3 Shire.
Super-subs Gary Leith & Andrew Cook came on and got in on the act each crossing the line, off the back of some good “pick ‘n’ go” forward play and a 5m scrum driven back over the try line, respectively. Both converted by Gavin, 48-3 Shire.
As it’s not in Shire’s nature to take the foot off the gas they weren’t done in the final minutes, smashing the ball up the middle through the forwards with Kris Gilmartin “cutting a line” (yes he actually ran a line, I know right!?) to crash the ball down just left of the posts. This time however Gavin was already halfway to the showers and missed the conversion to give him a perfect game (better luck next time I guess).
53-3 “The Mighty” Shire. A great second half showing for the home side, against a well drilled Caithness side. The lads were able to celebrate on Saturday, but knew that there was still a lot of hard work to be done, if they were to achieve promotion, and from the performance on Saturday, it didn’t look as if any of the players were thinking of anything else!
Yet again, a big thanks goes out to all the people involved in getting the pitches in a playable condition as winter approaches, it was well worth the effort as the game did not disappoint!
As the crowd gathered just before kick-off, they were greeted by the echoes of the Shire first XV warm-up. The warm-up was fast paced and conducted with intensity.
Right from the kick-off both teams held nothing back, Shire’s Iain Redmond kicked the ball high and short, giving both teams a chance to compete for possession. Caithness kept their composure to begin a 4⅟2 minute uninterrupted back and forth joust for territory. The back three for both teams were tested repeatedly early doors under the high ball with the home team showing their tenacity and winning intent by returning several clearance kicks with interest, through running with the ball in-hand and putting the boot through it, to pin Caithness in their half.
The first period of play was brought to an end with a Shire knock-on brought through looking to push that pass too much, this did how ever give the Shire pack a chance to showcase their scrumming technique. With it still being early doors Caithness held their scrum steady to win the ball and with their 10 deep in the pocket they cleared to find touch, their first foray into the Shire half. Caithness were awarded a penalty a few phases after the line-out for “the tackler not releasing” giving their No.10 Liam Brims a chance to score the first points, which he took. 0-3 Caithness against the run of play.
Shire were straight back at Caithness from the kick off pinning them in their half, a repeat of the first few minutes of the game. Shire kept the pressure on and 5 minutes after the restart, Ross Bennie-Coulson went over in the corner from a well worked driving maul from a line-out. The difficult kick that followed was somehow converted by Gavin Cunningham to the surprise and delight of everyone. 7-3 Shire.
From the restart Caithness made a game of it, but it was clear the Shire pack were getting into their stride, having had a taste of scoring and starting to dominate the Caithness pack in the scrums and in open play, they began a series of “pick ‘n’ goes” smashing their way from the Caithness 10m line to 5m from the try line. The white line fever was interrupted by a call for the ball from the backs much to the relief of Caithness, who shot up in defense to put a stop to the attack. The relief was short lived though with the Shire pack pushing Caithness off their own ball in the scrum to win possession. The ball went open, then quickly back blind to a charging Ross Bennie-Coulson who crashed over for his second. This time everyone expected the conversion and Gavin didn’t disappoint swiftly following it up with a penalty kick as well, bringing the first half to a close 17-3 Shire.
The first half had claimed a casualty in the form of Iain Redmond who found himself trampled at the bottom of a ruck (unusual place for him) and got a nasty gash on his head as reward for his efforts. Matt Ball moved into fly-half, Kenny Penman to the wing and ‘The Cave-man’ came on to smash some heads together.
The second half began much as the first half ended, with Shire dominating up front pinning Caithness in their half. Shire’s attritional style of forward play created gaps out wide for the backs and James Patterson didn’t need prompting to score against his boyhood club as he sliced through the Caithness defence, but not to be out done and not content with two, Ross Bennie-Coulson was on the charge again (the thought of passing never on his mind) tearing through Caithness and over the line for try number 3, both converted by Gavin Cunningham. 31-3 Shire.
Caithness were down at this point but definitely not out and came back at shire but were a bit over eager and gave away a penalty right in front of the sticks, easy picking for on form Gavin. 34-3 Shire.
Super-subs Gary Leith & Andrew Cook came on and got in on the act each crossing the line, off the back of some good “pick ‘n’ go” forward play and a 5m scrum driven back over the try line, respectively. Both converted by Gavin, 48-3 Shire.
As it’s not in Shire’s nature to take the foot off the gas they weren’t done in the final minutes, smashing the ball up the middle through the forwards with Kris Gilmartin “cutting a line” (yes he actually ran a line, I know right!?) to crash the ball down just left of the posts. This time however Gavin was already halfway to the showers and missed the conversion to give him a perfect game (better luck next time I guess).
53-3 “The Mighty” Shire. A great second half showing for the home side, against a well drilled Caithness side. The lads were able to celebrate on Saturday, but knew that there was still a lot of hard work to be done, if they were to achieve promotion, and from the performance on Saturday, it didn’t look as if any of the players were thinking of anything else!
Player Of The Match
Comments (1)
Malcolm White - 6 months agoThanks to Sipho for this report.
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