A strong Shetland team with a large number of travelling supporters boarded the boat on Friday night to head down to play Dyce, which was a very important game for both teams. Unfortunately, Matthew Nicolson could not play following an accident at training leaving his left hand in plaster. The front row of John Roy Nicolson, Kristian Fraser and Craig Mann was unchanged from last week. James Sinclair and debutant Kris Thornham were in the engine room with William Coghill, captain Stewart Mouat and Tom Smale completing the pack. Callum Williamson moved in to scrum half with Shane Jamieson in the number 10 jersey. Maurice Williamson returned to the centres following last week’s injury alongside Peter Sidgwick. Brett Haining and Danny Farnworth were on the wings with Paul Grant completing the line up at full back.
Dyce kicked to start and their intent was shown straight away. They were being very physical in the contact area and were aggressive at rucks. In the opening 10 minutes, Dyce gave away a large number of penalties, allowing Shetland to clear their lines and exert their own pressure on the home side. With the penalty count rising, the referee eventually punished the opposing number 8, although he was lucky it was only a yellow. At a ruck, C. Williamson was tackled and the opposition number 8 decided to “shoe” the scrum half on the back of the head on two occasions. The referee, having seen this, duly awarded a penalty and sent the home player to the sin bin for 10 minutes. With the Dyce captain arguing with the decision, the referee marched Shetland up 10 metres to just outside the 22. With a win needed, Shetland opted to go for the points. Grant’s kick from near the touchline was narrowly wide.
As was the case with Shetland last week being down to 14 players seems to lift the remaining players and this is what happened to Dyce. A slight lapse in concentration from Shetland meant that Dyce were able to gain a lot of ground and make it into the Shetland 22. With a player offside at a ruck, the referee awarded the home side a penalty in front of the posts. The Dyce full back made no mistake and put them 3-0 ahead.
Stern words from captain Mouat reiterated the fact that again, points were being conceded from penalties and this needed to stop. Mouat himself managed to tap back C. Williamson’s restart to Fraser who gained a lot of yards. With quick ball available, the backs were unleashed but the ball was unfortunately knocked on before the opposing backs could be tested. From the resultant scrum, the fly half kicked deep and there was a strong chase from the rest of the backs. Poor work rate from Shetland left full back Grant isolated and the ball was turned over. With Dyce there in numbers, Shetland were forced to conceded a penalty. Dyce tapped quickly and received another penalty 5 metres out for the Shetland tacker not retreating the necessary 10 metres.
The home side’s centre took the ball on the crash and powered over the line to score the first try of the match. The conversion from wide was missed putting the home side 8-0 ahead.
Yet again, penalties were what were letting Shetland down and a try was demanded of the team before half time. Dyce reclaimed the kick off and booted the ball downfield. Grant ran back at the home side with menace and passed the ball out of the tackle to M. Williamson. The slippery centre weaved his way passed a couple of defenders before passing the ball to Smale, who ran a superb line off M. Williamson and broke the gain line. With support either side from Fraser and Coghill, Smale opted the inside pass to Coghill. The versatile player, showed his skill, power and pace by breaking a tackle, side stepping passed the full back and running in under the posts for a great try. Grant made sure of the extras putting Shetland only one point behind.
This signalled the return of the sin binned player and Shetland had to up their game again. Shetland were gob-smacked after Mouat received a punch to the head from the player who had just returned to the field. After seeing this, the referee felt it only necessary to tell the player he was on his last warning! This ruffled a few feathers in the Shetland camp and they channelled this aggression into some great rugby. The backs were receiving quick ball from the forwards who were rucking excellently. Unfortunately for the backs, a few handling errors resulted in turn over ball. Just before half time, the backs managed to break the line superbly. Jamieson dummied his man and broke the line. A miss pass to Sidgwick took two players out. The full back managed to bring the centre to the ground but could not stop the pop up to the on-rushing Grant who dived over the line. Unfortunately, the try was disallowed as the pop from Sidgwick was deemed to have gone forward and that concluded the first half.
Captain Mouat said at half time that penalties needed to be stopped being given away as that was what was killing us. He also pointed out that when we played our game, we scored a try and very nearly a second. Shetland appeared the more aggressive in the opening exchanges to the second half. They were camped in Dyce’s half for the first 15 minutes of the half but couldn’t covert this territory and possession into points. A clever chip by Jamieson down field gave Shetland a chance to challenge the home line out on the 22 metre line. With the regular hooker off getting patched up, the throw was askew and was well collected by Sinclair. The lock offloaded to the onrushing Fraser who got stopped 10 metres short. With a 5 man overlap, scrum half C. Williamson looked to pass the ball but was pulled back by a defending player in the ruck, giving Shetland the advantage. The number 9 tried his luck but was turned and a maul was created. Nicolson ripped the ball and was stopped on the line. Fraser noticed a gap in the defence and dived over the line to score Shetland’s second try and put them ahead for the first time. After nailing a couple of near impossible kicks the previous week, this conversion seemed a piece of cake for Grant as he added extra the two points with ease.
Shetland then made a change, bringing on Brian Flemming for Nicolson. Shetland claimed the kick off and worked the ball up field. After a great chip from M. Williamson, the work rate of the team was not what it has been and the chase was nearly non-existent. This allowed the opposing full back a lot of time and space to run at the Shetland defence. With men outside him, the full back drew his man and passed to the centre, who then passed it out to the winger. A great tackle from Haining stopped an almost certain try but with Dyce there in numbers, a couple of forward drives and Dyce managed to score in the corner. The kick was successfully converted, putting Dyce into the lead 15-14.
With only 15 minutes left, Shetland needed a last big push. This wasn’t helped when Jamieson had to go off with a knee injury. Zach Terrell came on at scrum half, pushing C. Williamson out to fly half for the remainder of the match. Quick ball was again given to the backs and running a move, C. Williamson gave the ball to Sidgwick. He was tackled on half way and with the backs in the ruck, Terrell noticed the blind side was open and made a dart down the wing but was just tackled into touch inside the 22 metre line. Dyce secured their own line out and punted the ball down field. Shetland again had possession in the middle of the field for the next 5 minutes but the Dyce defence held tight. Another blow was then given as M. Williamson was down with an ankle injury but the play still resumed. With one man less, Shetland had to defend for their lives. The defence held out for a number of phases but eventually the Dyce flanker squirmed over the line to score. The extras were added putting Dyce ahead by more than a single score meaning Shetland would miss out on the losing bonus point.
Jamieson came back on with his knee strapped for the injured M. Williamson. With less than 5 minutes to go, Shetland pressurised the kick off and caused a knock on by the catcher. The resultant scrum was solid as ever and the backs were unleashed. The ball eventually reached Farnworth on the wing but he was tackled into touch. Thornham was lifted at the line out and put pressure on the throw. The ball was spilled backwards and the opposing fly half was swarmed by numerous blue players. This caused him to boot the ball down field in a panic but Shetland were awarded a penalty for a chaser being in front of the kicker. With a losing bonus point available Shetland amazingly decided to run the penalty. After numerous phases, Shetland were only a few metres short. Grant took the ball off Terrell on a crash and touched the ball down but the referee, much to the annoyance of the Shetland players and support, judged the full back had been held up and blew for full time and a final score of 22-14.
Shetland were disappointed with the loss but Dyce were more physical and aggressive all over the pitch. The work rate which had served Shetland so well early in the season was not evident and conditioning coach, Mike Bradley, will be sure to have a few words to say to the players at training.
On the plus side, when Shetland played to their strengths they managed to score and it is important that they stick to the fast flowing rugby that has resulted in such a good start to the season.
The Northwards man of the match was awarded to William Coghill for his superb running, tackling and his second try for Shetland.
Shetland would like to thank the continued support of their sponsors and a special mention to Northlink ferries for making another away trip possible. Extra thanks to those travelling fans, friends and family who came and watched. The support is always very much appreciated.
Shetland are at home to Gordonians 2XV tomorrow, kick off at 12 noon. Shetland lost 8-3 to the visitors a few weeks ago so are out for retribution at home. Any support would be greatly appreciated.
Training continues on Tuesdays and Thursdays, commencing at 6.30pm. all players, old or new, are very welcome.