Aberdeenshire travelled to Banff for their first game of the new league campaign, hoping to continue the good form shown in the Cup fixture the previous week.

The men from Woodside looked sharp right from the kick off, with fantastic defensive line speed creating all kinds of problems for the home side who couldn’t deal with the onslaught of pressure. This resulted in a great turnover of possession which was shipped wide through some very slick hands from the Shire backline allowing Jamie Stephen to score in the corner. The Conversion was narrowly missed by Gav Cunningham.

Almost instantly from the restart the Shire pack regained possession, with fantastic running lines and moving the point of contact the forwards sailed into the oppositions 22. The Banff defence in their own 22 was looking solid until after some quick clearing out at a ruck created a gap for Paul Harrow to sneak through, he then wrong footed 3 defenders as he went under the posts. Converted by Gav Cunningham.
The Shire men were going through their game plan quite well, with the forwards hitting it up to great effect, punching holes through the Banff defence. With this working so well, it was only a matter of time before one of the hard-running lines went over the whitewash, this time it was the new second row Jason Burton. Conversion by Gav Cunningham.

Frazer Forman gathered the following kick-off, and took a huge hit from his opposite number, which unfortunately saw him go off for the remainder of the game. The stand-in Captain Connor Macfarlane fired up his forwards by almost running the whole length of the field only to be chopped down on the 5 metre line by the scramble defence, and spilled the ball on his long journey to meet the ground. This gave Banff a scrum on their own 5 metre line and a chance to clear their lines. It was a huge clearance kick catching all the Shire defence by surprise, continuing all the way into the Shire 22 before going into touch. With some quick thinking, the back 3 took a quick line out and sailed back up the pitch past the slacking home team who were too busy congratulating their kicker to pay attention to defending. Scorer Mike MacCluggash, with the conversion successful by Gav Cunningham.

Piling the pressure on once again, right from the restart the men from Fortress Woodside struck through some fantastic grunt work from the forwards, which allowed some fantastic handling from the backs to get the ball wide, where the created overlap and a simple draw and pass, allowed Tom Watson to go over in the corner. Conversion missed.

Aberdeenshire’s dominance did not end there for the half as in open play the ball was ripped from a Banff player and shipped wide once again creating an overlap which was exploited this time by Aaron Wright. Conversion successful by Gav Cunningham.

Half time 38-0

Shire moved a few bodies about after the impressive first half performance to rest some players and to give others game time. A fantastic effort by all in the first half to lay foundations on a game as important as this.

The match was even for the first 20 minutes of the second half, with a combination of horrendous weather, silly mistakes and excellent defence shown from both sides. Shire did however find a way through their opponents defence after Paul Harrow turned over the ball at a ruck and passed out to Jonny Gray who was running a hard, tight line allowing him to sail through a gap and under the posts for a well-deserved try. Conversion successful by Gav Cunningham.

Following the kick off, Banff gathered the ball and played some hard running rugby, pushing Shire back. This kept the Shire men camped on their own try line for the best part of 5 minutes. Banff’s continual pressure eventually created a weak point in the Shire defence, which they exploited to get over the Shire line and were awarded a try. The Shire men were not happy with this call and were adamant the ball was held up. They had a very good case especially as the ball was resting on Kenny Penmans body. The Ref was very clear that he saw the ball touch the line, so Shire accepted the point and got on with the game, determined to make up for their shortcomings.

The game was pretty scrappy for the last period, with both teams making numerous mistakes due to fatigue. One of the mistakes by the Banff players (a knock on) presented itself right into the hands of Jonny Gray who, for the second time in the game, went over for a try. Conversion missed.

Final Score 50-7

Referee - Jameason Shearer

All in all, a very good start to the League Campaign with a convincing win. A lot of positives and some points for the coaching team to take from the game for the guys to work on at training. Thanks to everyone who made the trip to come and watch the game. Next week sees Ross Sutherland return to Fortress Woodside - we hope to see everyone down to what is shaping up to be a great day of rugby.