Shetland move into 2nd place despite defeat.
A Shetland team, missing several key players, travelled to take on Gordonians 2XV last weekend looking to maintain their unbeaten record in the league and to put their disappointing defeat in the cup behind them.
The front row consisted of John Roy Nicolson, Kristian Fraser and Craig Mann with Iain Robertson and James Sinclair in the 2nd row. The pack was completed by Danny Farnworth, captain Stewart Mouat and Tom Smale. Iain Nicol was at scrum half with Callum Williamson remaining in the number 10 shirt. Maurice Williamson moved to outside centre to allow the versatile William Coghill to move to the inside position. Cousins Daniel and Stuart Gray were on the wings with Nathan Coote completing the line-up at full back.
Shetland fly half Williamson got the game started and the kick off was nearly claimed by a great chase from the Shetland pack. From the ruck, the opposing backs decided to run but could not get through the solid Shetland defence. Following that, they opted to kick the ball down field to relieve their lines of defence. This would prove to be a trend they would play for most of the first half.
With a line-out on the Shetland 22, the referee judged the throw to be not straight and awarded a scrum to Gordonians. Shetland’s strength this season has been around the set plays and yet again they had a great drive which led to a turnover. Unfortunately Shetland were unable to capitalise on this due to a mistake by the backs and Callum Williamson only just managed to clear the ball down field before the opposing flanker and scrum half got to him. This was a tactic that Gordonians were trying to employ to unsettle the diminutive fly-half and they were putting Williamson under constant pressure.
The Shetland captain, Stewart Mouat, asked the forwards to take some of the pressure of the backs and keep the ball in hand. This seemed to work and from a scrum 10 minutes before half time Smale picked up from the number 8 position and after a few phases from the forwards the ball was spun to the backs. Nicol gave quick ball to Williamson who was able to release the the new centre pairing. Coghill passed to Maurice Williamson who took the tackle and popped the ball up to Coote. The pacey full back drew his man before passing to Stuart Gray on the wing. The big winger opened his legs and made it to the opposing 10 metre line before just getting tackled into touch.
Unfortunately, despite this positive period of play, Shetland were unable to provide quick, clean ball to the backs on a regular basis and they never had an opportunity to run at the home defence.
Gordonians nearly made the break through just before half time. A missed tackle by the Shetland fly half allowed a line break and but for a great covering tackle from Coghill this could have resulted in a try. Gordonians managed to move the ball through hand before Williamson managed to recover and tackle the inside centre who was tackled from behind by the retreating blue number 10.
With the final play of the half, Shetland were deemed to have been off their feet at a ruck and a penalty was awarded against them. The Gordonians kicker decided to try and get 3 points before half time. His kick was wide and it was all square, 0-0, at the break.
Captain Mouat was not happy with the level of performance. The work rate from the forwards was not good enough and was not what it had been throughout the season. Forwards were standing off at rucks waiting for a pass when the ball was getting lost. The ball was often flying straight out of the back of the ruck so the forwards were told to control the breakdown better. The backs demanded to get more opportunities as they had seen practically nothing of the ball in the first half and when they did get it, they looked quite dangerous.
It was also noted that the opposing wingers and full back were all over the place so to keep a look out for potential chips in behind.
With a clear and precise game plan in mind, Shetland looked strong from the kick off. They received the kick well and the forwards gained a number of yards before releasing the backs. With the winger up flat and the full back nowhere, Williamson played a clever little chip in behind the defence out wide and only the touch line beat Maurice Williamson and Daniel Gray from picking up the ball for a certain score. From the resulting lineout, Callum Williamson made a great tackle on his opposite number before Maurice Williamson then forced the opposing full back off the pitch following a massive tackle.
Despite sustained pressure Shetland were unable to much headway and they unfortunately lost discipline inside their 22 by being offside at a ruck. This time, the Gordonian kicker made no mistake and the home side took the lead. The resultant restart did not go 10 metres so a scrum was taken back at half way. However, Shetland again managed to turn over the scrum and with another great Smale pick up, the ball was offloaded in style until Shetland were within the opposition 22. A ruck was formed and the two Williamson’s ran blind with Stuart Gray outside them. With one man to beat on the line, Maurice Williamson passed to Gray who unfortunately failed to catch the pass for a simple try. The referee judged that the drop went back and with Shetland there in numbers, Gordonians were forced to take the ball over their own line.
The resultant scrum 5 metres out was again secured by Shetland but following a great pick up by Smale he unfortunately ran into scrum half Nicol and a scrum was awarded to the home side for accidental obstruction. Gordonians tried to clear their lines but the kicker did not get great distance so Shetland were still in the opposing 22 with a lineout. The backs tested the opposing defence again from this with Coghill running a hard line off the fly-half back into the forwards. He was stopped 5 metres short and with Shetland too slow to secure the ball at the breakdown Gordonians managed to turn the ball over. They cleared the ball downfield but the covering Shetland player was judged to have knocked the ball on.
Gordonians got the scrum on the Shetland 22 and with the scrum wheeling, the scrum half picked the ball up and just managed to score in the corner despite the best efforts of Daniel Gray and Farnworth. The kick was missed putting Gordonians 8 points ahead.
Shetland brought on Ieaun Webb for the tiring Nicolson and again began to exert pressure from the restart. They were awarded a penalty just outside the 22 for a Gordonian player holding on to the ball. With Paul Grant unavailable, kicker for the day Williamson passed on the duties to captain Mouat whom he believed had a better chance of making the kick. Sure enough, Mouat made no mistake and Shetland were only one score down with 10 minutes to go.
Gordonians put a lot of pressure on the Shetland defence during this period but the “blue wall” held solid. Shetland were looking to play a quick game with offloads but this only worked well for a few phases until a handling error brought the move to an abrupt end. This was a regular occurrence throughout the rest of the game and following yet another knock on, the referee drew the game to a close with Shetland left disappointed.
Captain Mouat summed it up well by saying that we did two or three things well before turning the ball over due to silly handling errors or penalties. The work rate, which had been so impressive earlier in the season, was disappointing and will need to be improved in future games if Shetland have any hope of winning the league.
On the plus side, the team received a losing bonus point due to coming within 7 points of Gordonians and this may become key in the closing stages of the league.
The number of penalties conceded over the last 2 weeks has been particularly disappointing and needs to be resolved. All in all, Shetland did not put in a bad performance for a team that was quite inexperienced and lacked the continuity of previous weekends.
The Northwards man of the match was awarded to Tom Smale, his strong running and work effort was evident throughout the game. Best for the forwards were Nicolson, Mouat and Smale while Coghill, Maurice Williamson and Daniel Gray did well for the backs
Despite the defeat Shetland moved up to second in the league and face early pace stetters Deeside at home tomorrow with the game kicking off at noon. The team will be looking to bounce back from the disappointing results of the last two weeks. The level of support at recent home games has been particularly pleasing this season and it is hope that this will continue for this top-of-the-table clash.
Shetland would like to thank the continued support of Northlink and the rest of their sponsors.