Aberdeenshire XV – Lismore XV

Aberdeenshire XV – Lismore XV
Woodside, 2pm 21/08/21
Referee- Cameron fae Dyce

The return to rugby at Fortress Woodside was a bitter-sweet day. This saw the remembrance of former Aberdeenshire player and Lismore RFC president Alistair Skene who passed in December 2020. Lismore men’s and ladies teams made the trip up to sunny Aberdeen, the Lismore men had to face the aging yet handsome champions of the world (3rd tier/Scotland) in a game of Rugby Union. Throngs of “when I was your age I used to be really good at rugby” Lads came down to remember their lost brother and also drink fresh cans of Tennetts that just happened to be served from the club house bar. “jesus, there are more bald heads here, then on a plane to Turkey” exclaimed Mark Littlejohn. There was also the small matter of the first game at Woodside in 18 months to be getting on with.
With ‘shire undefeated since Nov 2019, could Lismore RFC shake the invincible Shire XV? with 20 year old Andrew Webster donning no 22 jersey, this would cascade the average age from geriatric 33.3 to a vibrant 32.7. This news struck fear into the Lismore XV who carelessly thought that they would come to Woodside to merely avoid contact and run around the outside of Los Ángulos de Charlie™. Also the late addition of the ‘The most terrifying man in rugby’ Mike Roulston didn’t give the Lismore guys much to cheer about.
As the harr descended on the pitch in Nether Cottown, The Woodside men finished there warm up and put on their strips for the game. Detective Inspector MacFarlane was first to admit that it may be a friendly there would be nothing friendly about the display. As a normal game of rugby either starts or restarts with a drop kick that law 12.6 states ‘the ball should travel 10 metres or more’ this feat was managed with no problem by the Lismore no 10. This kick was fielded superbly by Duncan the Dundonian fae Angus and the game was on. The shire boys mixed it up immediately with strong running in the middle of the park. Coaxing in Lismore like a well-placed Burger advertisement outside McDonald’s. Then Quick as a 32 year old with a lot of miles on the clock, Jamie Stevens swept the ball out to the knock-onrs and huge ground was made up. When D.I. MacFarlane plunged over the line for an excellently scored touch down. “Bravo” exclaimed Mr. Clayton from the terracing. “Ohhh, I say” Chuckled President Bell almost simultaneously. Luke Bain failed to secure the extras.
The game continued in this manner, with strong running from Penman/D.I. Macfarlane/Liam Reid with some excellent back play with the now 92 kilo Gav C picking great lines of running also getting in for a scintillating try before the end of the first quarter.
The honours of beginning the second quarter was given to the veteran Jamie Stevens who wouldn’t need the Law 12.6 read out to him before restarting the game, or would he? Funnily enough it turned out that Jamie Stevens actually preceded to kick the ball at a 90 degree angle from himself and out into touch. This shook the crowd. “Does he not know that ‘the ball should travel 10 metres or more’” roared a supporter. With the crowd/his friends/parents/teammates and most importantly himself let down the charitable Lismore captain elected to allow Jamie take his kick again. This kick off had greater success and after a clearance kick from Lismore allowed shire to play out from their 22. A rare mistake in the middle of the field from Shire allowed the Lismore guys in for a try that was against the run of play. This allowed Jamie Stephens to redeem himself from his previous misstep with another restart and Redeem himself he did not, The jeers of the crowd “Boooooo, Boooooo” resounded around fortress Woodside.
The game continued in a similar vein even with the addition of replacements to let the young and mostly very old faces on the field. Shires dominance of the set piece was still evident. With the shire guys setting up a traditional driving lineout where debutant Jack O’Tait didn’t knock the ball on to score a well worked try. The backs ran in a number of tries namely Paul Harrow/Luke Bain and Johnny Grey who powered his way over the line with no supporting players around. Other moments from this quarter saw Quinn(second name for a first name) MacDonald showing some excellent feet in the pocket but his throw to his wide receiver Jake Dawson running the slant was deemed incomplete, but the penalty was declined. 1st down to Lismore
The final quarter saw more Shire dominance, a very resolute defence allowed no more scores. Mikey Roulston was the anchor in defence and used his finishing move the ‘Clothesline from hell’ on a 19 year old wonder kid who was looked over by medical team and deemed –thought to be okay- This was good enough for the referee a who took one look at Mikey Roulston and said “I’m sorry”. Heading towards the end of the match there was handbags when a Lismore prop finally took umbridge with going backwards in a scrum all day. After the handbags were exchanged and both parties were happy with what they got the game continued. The Flying captain Connor completed his hat- trick with another leaping try. The jubilation on the face of the 20s of people that came to see was a sight to behold.
The Shire boys were back. 18 months of boredom, Netflix, youtube(& sister companies), zoom meetings, toilet roll rationing etc. all out the window. Now the freedom to play rugby was back, The freedom to drink with your friends in the club house was back and most importantly the freedom to shower with your friends was back. To answer the question at the beginning of the piece, more in rugby is more as ultimately the Shire men scored 53 points, where the Lismore only scored 5. The Shire XV were named the winners.
Charlie and all the lads/ladies were a credit to the club. All the work from the backroom teams, committees etc will not be forgotten that kept the club together while we couldn’t play while we were apart. A special thanks to all the members of Lismore and Aberdeenshire RFCs who made sure Alistair Skene was remembered by both clubs and I hope this will become a tradition so a bus trip to Edinburgh next year is on the cards.

Alistair Campbell Skene 1934-2020