3rd XV - Report
Date: Saturday 3rd November 2012 - Kick Off: 14:00
RBS Caledonia Regional Leagues - Caledonia League Division 3 North
| Mackie 2nd XV | 22 | vs | 24 | Aberdeenshire 3rd XV |
Close call but a wins a win...
Shire held out for narrow win over Mackie
Departing Aberdeen, a bright cool afternoon greeted Shire on arrival to the ground just outside Stonehaven to play Mackie. After changing in freezing portacabins the warm-up began and the team started to gel, looking good before kickoff.
A close initial period of play was exchanged, both packs sizing each other up and the backs hitting up the centre of the pitch. The run of play started to favour Shire when a fortunate bounce of the ball landed for One Direction’s 6th member, George Tweedie, who used skill and pace to kick on and chase to a successful first try; what looked like it was done with ease. The try was converted by Paul Harrow leading to a 7point lead.
The pack kept applying the pressure on with ball being presented to the backs. And after a fine delayed pass from captain Martyn Snell a second try was awarded to Harrow mid way through the first half, 12 point lead, a difficult kick meant it was unconverted.
Mackie came back towards the end of the half after a number of penalties were awarded, tap & go and back ten a familiar phrase repeated by referee. A break opened up they were able to score against Shire. There were a few chances again for both sides but towards the end of the first half another penalty was awarded to which Mackie opted to kick and converted it for 3 extra points, meaning the half time score finished as below:
Half time score: Mackie 8 – 12 Aberdeenshire 3rd XV
A number of substitutes were made at half time to ensure that the team was able to utilise most of the subs at some point throughout the game. Veteran Dave Leslie, came on at Outhalf in the second half and put in some great positional kicks to help clear the lines when required and also set up the basis for the lineout which could be contested to enable the backs to run the ball out wide.
Off a successful catch & drive lineout the backs were presented quick ball, in which the full back Gav Thomas joined the line running at pace; with quick feet and change of direction he was able to run in and score another try for Shire, which was converted by David Leslie to make the score 19 – 8 in favour of Shire.
Again mid way through the second half with a lot of changes the game became disrupted with penalties and the ref was drawing a hard line with regards discipline in the ruck for hands, off the feet and offside. Despite the penalty count growing, Shire were still able to continue a good running game through the back line and a well worked move finished off with Duncan Angus, making his mark scoring just over the line when there was space outside but never the less the 5points added made for a convincing score line and looked like the game was Shires for the taking.
At this point another series of changes were made and a previously injured Grant Findlay, returned to the field to help assist Mackie in their comeback by miss hacking a grubber kick to which Mackie capitalised on and scored another converted try to make it 24-15 and the game was still in the balance.
Matters were made worse when Shire debutant ‘Turkish’ Tanyeli was binned with 7 minutes on the clock. With a reduced side a series of tap and go penalties that Shire conceded led to another try and with time still remaining it was going to be a tense finish to hold out for the win.
As the final minutes of the game were drawing towards the end, surprise surprise the refs whistle blew again and Mackie decided to kick for the posts to try and pinch the win from Shire. As if it wasn’t bad enough that they managed to get a penalty for the last kick of the game, another chance was given due to the fact there was a disturbance during the kick. Luckily for Shire the Mackie hooker missed the retake and Dave Leslie booted the ball far out of play at the point the refs whistle blew for time.
The fact a few new faces were drafted in and the penalty count was high, there were some positives that could be taken away from the game and hopefully set right before next week’s away game to Dyce. Needless to say a wins a win and the result will ensure that the mighty “Loons” will continue to rise up the table.
Full time score: Mackie 2nd XV 22 – 24 Aberdeenshire 3rd XV
Man of the Match: Ronan “Piggy” McLaughlan
Dick of the Day: Grant Findlay
1. Ronan McLaughlan
2. Thomas Dugdale
3. I.Tanyeli
4. M.Roberts
5. Paul Watson
6. Josh Carr
7. David Mcdonald
8. Grant Findlay
9. Matthew Benbow
10. Martin Snell
11. Mark Clayton
12. Chad Frenchman
13. P.Harrow
14. G.Tweedie
15. Gary Thomas
16. C.Spooner
17. N.Gillanders
18. David Leslie
19. D.Angus
20. Rory Davin
21. P. Dagaga
22. Edgarus
A close initial period of play was exchanged, both packs sizing each other up and the backs hitting up the centre of the pitch. The run of play started to favour Shire when a fortunate bounce of the ball landed for One Direction’s 6th member, George Tweedie, who used skill and pace to kick on and chase to a successful first try; what looked like it was done with ease. The try was converted by Paul Harrow leading to a 7point lead.
The pack kept applying the pressure on with ball being presented to the backs. And after a fine delayed pass from captain Martyn Snell a second try was awarded to Harrow mid way through the first half, 12 point lead, a difficult kick meant it was unconverted.
Mackie came back towards the end of the half after a number of penalties were awarded, tap & go and back ten a familiar phrase repeated by referee. A break opened up they were able to score against Shire. There were a few chances again for both sides but towards the end of the first half another penalty was awarded to which Mackie opted to kick and converted it for 3 extra points, meaning the half time score finished as below:
Half time score: Mackie 8 – 12 Aberdeenshire 3rd XV
A number of substitutes were made at half time to ensure that the team was able to utilise most of the subs at some point throughout the game. Veteran Dave Leslie, came on at Outhalf in the second half and put in some great positional kicks to help clear the lines when required and also set up the basis for the lineout which could be contested to enable the backs to run the ball out wide.
Off a successful catch & drive lineout the backs were presented quick ball, in which the full back Gav Thomas joined the line running at pace; with quick feet and change of direction he was able to run in and score another try for Shire, which was converted by David Leslie to make the score 19 – 8 in favour of Shire.
Again mid way through the second half with a lot of changes the game became disrupted with penalties and the ref was drawing a hard line with regards discipline in the ruck for hands, off the feet and offside. Despite the penalty count growing, Shire were still able to continue a good running game through the back line and a well worked move finished off with Duncan Angus, making his mark scoring just over the line when there was space outside but never the less the 5points added made for a convincing score line and looked like the game was Shires for the taking.
At this point another series of changes were made and a previously injured Grant Findlay, returned to the field to help assist Mackie in their comeback by miss hacking a grubber kick to which Mackie capitalised on and scored another converted try to make it 24-15 and the game was still in the balance.
Matters were made worse when Shire debutant ‘Turkish’ Tanyeli was binned with 7 minutes on the clock. With a reduced side a series of tap and go penalties that Shire conceded led to another try and with time still remaining it was going to be a tense finish to hold out for the win.
As the final minutes of the game were drawing towards the end, surprise surprise the refs whistle blew again and Mackie decided to kick for the posts to try and pinch the win from Shire. As if it wasn’t bad enough that they managed to get a penalty for the last kick of the game, another chance was given due to the fact there was a disturbance during the kick. Luckily for Shire the Mackie hooker missed the retake and Dave Leslie booted the ball far out of play at the point the refs whistle blew for time.
The fact a few new faces were drafted in and the penalty count was high, there were some positives that could be taken away from the game and hopefully set right before next week’s away game to Dyce. Needless to say a wins a win and the result will ensure that the mighty “Loons” will continue to rise up the table.
Full time score: Mackie 2nd XV 22 – 24 Aberdeenshire 3rd XV
Man of the Match: Ronan “Piggy” McLaughlan
Dick of the Day: Grant Findlay
1. Ronan McLaughlan
2. Thomas Dugdale
3. I.Tanyeli
4. M.Roberts
5. Paul Watson
6. Josh Carr
7. David Mcdonald
8. Grant Findlay
9. Matthew Benbow
10. Martin Snell
11. Mark Clayton
12. Chad Frenchman
13. P.Harrow
14. G.Tweedie
15. Gary Thomas
16. C.Spooner
17. N.Gillanders
18. David Leslie
19. D.Angus
20. Rory Davin
21. P. Dagaga
22. Edgarus
RSS Feeds
Comment & Share