A large crowd turned out at Clickimin last Saturday to watch Shetland Rugby Club get the new season underway in style. The vocal home support were well entertained by a great display of attacking rugby from the boys in blue.
It was the visitors who got the game underway, with the kick off being well claimed by big Iain Robertson for Shetland. Unfortunately, he wasn’t well supported by the rest of the home forwards, and the ball was turned over. This was to be one of very few mistakes the home side made on the day.
The both teams found their rhythm early on, with Huntly looking to rumble the ball up field through their big forward pack, while Shetland looked to spin the ball wide as early as possible and utilise the pace and strong running of backs Maurice Williamson, Shane Jamieson, Paul Grant and Nathan Coote.
Huntly were given the opportunity to register the first points on the scoreboard when the Shetland forwards were penalised for not rolling away at the ruck. The visiting stand off made no mistake with the penalty and put the visitors 3-0 up. This provoked an immediate response from Shetland, who reclaimed the kick off brilliantly through captain Matthew Nicolson, and they recycled the ball well =, going forward all the time, before great handling from the backline, particularly stand off Joe O’Connor and Coote, which led to Grant scoring in the corner. Grant failed to add the difficult conversion, leaving the score at 5-3 in favour of the home side.
This score seemed to give Shetland a confidence boost, and lifted the growing crowd at Clickimin. As a result it was not long before they increased their lead. After being held up over the Huntly line, Shetland scored from the resulting scrum. Captain Matthew Nicolson sailed through a huge gap in the visiting defence after great work from the front five, especially Robbie Hall at tight head prop. Grant again was unable to add the extras, but Shetland lead 10-3.
At this point, Huntly seemed to raise their game again, and they were able to make a dent in Shetland’s lead with another penalty after another infringement at the ruck. The stand off once again booted the ball through the posts to make the half-time score 10-6 in favour of the hosts.
During the interval, Shetland made a couple of changes, with Stewart Jamieson being brought on for James ‘Maori’ Sinclair in the pack, which led to a slight reshuffle with Craig Mann being moved into the second row. Shetland had the wind behind them for the second half, and would look to make use of this slight advantage.
The second half was a tale of almost total domination for the home side, with Huntly unable to get out of their half for long periods, and Shetland could count themselves unfortunate not to add to their try count on a number of occasions. Firstly, vice-captain Stewart Mouat broke brilliantly through the Huntly defence and was able to offload to Craig Mann before the cover tackle could be made on him. Craig in turn was able to take the ball on and offloaded to the onrushing scrum half Jon Pulley, who sidestepped on defender before being tackled into the goalpost by the Huntly captain.
Pulley was involved again in Shetland’s next opportunity, when his offload to the supporting Stewart Jamieson was adjudged to have gone forward, following another good spell of support play from the home forwards. Both Paul Grant and Craig Mann had what looked like legitimate tries disallowed with the referee saying both men had been unable to ground the ball. With the Huntly players dropping like flies, unable to keep up with the superior fitness of the home side, Grant added a penalty to extend the lead to 13-6.
Shetland did finally get the third score their play had deserved following an incisive move from the backs. The influential O’Connor played his pass behind the back of Maurice Williamson to Shane Jamieson, who fended off one defender and ran in from the halfway line to score beside the posts. This time Grant made no mistake with the conversion, putting Shetland 20-6 ahead.
Shetland went in search of the 4-try bonus point, and O’Connor himself was denied a well deserved score after intercepting a desperate pass from the Huntly full-back, who was ruled to have put a foot in touch before flinging the ball back infield following Pulley’s clever kick.
With the last play of the game, Huntly were able to finally score a try, after the Shetland defence made their first mistake of the half, and allowed the visiting flanker to break through and score. The stand off was able to maintain his 100% kicking record, and brought the final score to Shetland 20 - 13 Huntly.
Every member of the Shetland team should feel proud of their excellent display, and it was very difficult to pick a man of the match. In the forwards, Robbie Hall and Stewart Mouat had particularly strong games, while O’Connor stood out in the backline. The Northwards Man of the Match award was presented to “Big” Iain Robertson for a stand out display in the second row, the 17-year old giving his best in a Shetland shirt so far in his short career.
The home side would like to thank Northwards and Clickimin Leisure Complex for their continued support of the team, and also to the very vocal home crowd who really spurred the side on to victory.
Shetland travel to Inverurie for their next game in Caledonia North East Division 2, where they will take on Garioch, who are expected to provide a much sterner test than Huntly did. This match will prove a challenge to the young Shetland team, but if they can perform as well again as they did in their opening match the they will stand a chance of creating an upset against one of the better sides in the division.