IMPROVED ‘SHIRE SEE OFF TENACIOUS SHETLAND

On a still, but cold day, ‘Shire welcomed Shetland RFC to Woodside for the Semi-Final of the Caledonia North Regional Bowl. No incentives were needed for this game. Not only to progress to the North Regional Final or for the possibility of being back on the road to Murrayfield to defend the National Bowl, but most of all for the team to get back to winning ways after defeats in the last 3 previous games. Especially last week, as we lost by a conversion at the end of the game to local rivals Aberdeen Grammar 2nd XV.

This weekend’s opponents certainly were certainly not to be taken lightly. Having played each other regularly in recent years, and 'Shire having been beaten by Shetland once last season - although we won the other two encounters – we knew that it was going to be a tough physical game and that we would have to improve from previous weeks to get the win. There was some light relief for the boys though when the Shetland team was announced, with Rambo not being on the team sheet. Several players in the past had been ‘Ramboed’ and were still feeling the effects of him believing players had the ball.

Preparation had been good through the week at training. The coaches lead some indoor feedback sessions, much to the delight of the players due to the poor weather outside on both nights. However, sitting inside the clubhouse was unplanned punishment, as it is most likely one of the only buildings where it is possible for it to be colder inside than outside.

‘Shire had the luxury of being able to name a full 22 man squad this week along with some players who were returning from injury along with some of the oil and gas tigers which the club possess. Unfortunately, the club weren’t able to name Tom ‘Not Sarah’ Watson in the team due to being suspended following his straight red card during the previous match. His punishment though was to remove some dog mess from the pitch prior to the game which some irresponsible owners unfortunately left. Although, Paul ‘Who Needs A Shovel’ Harrow was quick to deal with the situation much to the dismay of some of the players.

Following Shetland’s Kick Off towards the clubhouse, they soon realised it wasn’t going to be a soft game. This was due to the pace and power which 'Shire brought to the game through the hard, direct running of Connor ‘Sing Song’ Macfarlane. Clearly the deception of no longer having Sheila as part of the welcoming committee to Woodside was working well.

The high intensity start that the boys made, as requested by the coaches, soon got its reward, with Macfarlane, touching down from a push over scrum that had been chosen from a penalty. This set the tone for the day in terms of the scrums, with the ‘Shire pack dominating it all game winning both penalties and turnovers with it. This was off the back of some powerful running by the forwards, and good clean ball for the backs. The only way Shetland could deal with it, was by conceding penalties. Gavin ‘I Love A Tracksuit’ Cunningham, slotted the tricky conversion, for an early 7 point lead.

The re-start was expertly gathered by Andy ‘The Better’ Forman, who then proceeded to take the game straight back to the islanders with some hard aggressive running along with some great lines from brother and El Capitano, Frazer ‘Why Can No One Spell My Name’ Forman. This style of play continued from the boys with some great interchange between the forwards and backs, along with some quality heads up rugby from Harrow. This resulted in Club Captain, Steve ‘I Love The Uni’ Cook, being able to get a free run in over the try line. Gavlar duly converted the extras again. 14 – 0 to ‘Shire.

The opening quarter of the game certainly didn’t all go ‘Shire’s way. There were lengthy periods of time when Shetland were in possession, and they were bringing plenty of physicality to the game as well, through simple hands and direct running. However, ‘Shire’s defence was standing strong with good tackles being put in by both forwards and backs. Most notably from Andy Forman and Declan ‘Party Boy’ Coutts. Following ‘Shire soaking up this pressure, they managed to get a scrum at 5 metres out. Although this time Shetland held firm in it, Harrow was able to hit Jonny ‘Gravy’ Gray straight from the back of the scrum running a straight hard line allowing him to bundle over two players to score. The conversion this time was unfortunately missed. 19 - 0, the men in black and red.

From the Kick Off, unfortunately due to a lack of concentration the ball was allowed to bounce and Shane ‘Loves Shorts and T-Shirt’ Lafferty then knocked on. This allowed Shetland to get deep into the Shire half to exert some pressure on the home defence. They were constantly picking and going from the back of rucks to try and breach the shire defence, but were having no luck. Eventually though, after Shire conceded some penalties which were taken through quick taps, the whitewash was crossed. However, the boys were not too disheartened, as the defence had held strong for a long period of time. Luckily for the home side, the conversion was missed. ‘Shire 19 - 5 Shetland.

Conceding this try appeared to further encourage the boys to go out and really put the game to bed before half time. This firstly came through a bit of individual magic by Harrow, who picked up from the back of a ruck and with some magical feet work, that you would usually only see in Club Trop on a Saturday night, he danced through several players to score under the posts. Gavlar nudged over the conversion. The next try, just shortly before half time, was through some quick thinking and good hands through the backs. 'Shire won a penalty just outside the Shetland 22m line, which Harrow had taken quickly before it was passed down the line with Kieran ‘Prison Break’ Fulton expertly fending off the cover defence to score in the corner. Kieran continued this hard running and fending off of the Shetland defence in the second half, with him running through apparently 10 players at one point. Although subsequent video evidence from Coach Jeff ‘Rocky’ Kilman showed that Kieran maybe still can’t count, but he did have one of his best performances in a Shire shirt. Gavlar unfortunately missed the tricky conversion.

HT: 31 – 5

At half time, coaches Barny ‘Jockstrap’ Henderson and Jeff ‘Rocko’ Kilman told the boys to continue to raise the intensity and not let off the visitors in the second half. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen for the first ten minutes of the second half. As a result of ‘Shire’s mistakes and conceded penalties, Shetland managed to keep the home side pinned back in their own 22. They eventually crossed the try line again after constant up the jumper rugby and Big Cook being yellow carded for constant team infringements at the breakdown. The conversion was missed. 31-10.

Following this, although the visitors did not look like scoring again in the second half, unfortunately ‘Shire weren’t really able to further push on, only scoring two more tries in the remainder of the game. This was probably a combination of Shetland putting up a fight all the way to the final whistle and not making it easy for the defending champions, the cold weather, and some simple handling mistakes much to the disappointment of the ‘Shire. This resulted in the second half being a fairly stop-start affair, only to the delight of the scrum enthusiast.
The two tries which Shire did score though were both very well worked. The first being by Tom ‘I’ve Got Nothing Left’ Dugdale from a catch and drive line out into a rolling maul over the line. The second being after some good phase play through both the forwards and the backs, with it being finished off by Connor through recieveing a crash ball off Harrow about 5 metres out. Both conversions were kicked successfully by Chavlar, rounding off a good day for him with the boot.

FT: 45 – 10

The lads can be proud of how they played, especially due to the recent run of results, although it was acknowledged that further improvement was required if we are to hopefully retain the Caledonia North and National Bowl trophies and improve our league position. It was very pleasing though to hear the referee say that the team’s ‘discipline was awesome’, as this was a huge improvement from previous weeks. It is hoped this can be carried on for the rest of the season, starting with the next game on Saturday against North Police Scotland.

Andy Forman was named Man of the Match due to his constant tackling, support play and work at the breakdown throughout the game. D*** of the Day went to Tom Watson for getting suspended for the game. Finally, a special mention to Andy Mckie and Tom White who made their debuts for Shire.

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