SHETLAND Rugby Club kicked off their season last weekend with a rusty performance, going down 39-5 against a physical and well-drilled Banff team.
With a fresh northerly wind blowing through Clickimin, Shetland won the toss and decided to play against the wind in the first half. Banff kicked off and misjudged the wind strength to put the ball straight into touch, Shetland deciding to take the scrum at halfway. Banff made up for their early mistake by putting the Shetland scrum backwards and exerted pressure in midfield for Shetland to knock on. For the next 15 minutes Banff dominated the game and possession. Play was entirely in Shetland’s half. Banff were much sharper at the breakdown and were running direct lines in the backs.
With 18 minutes played Shetland gained possession and moved the ball wide, and after quick rucking second row Stuart Jamieson received the ball on the wing in space. With the cover defence closing in, Stuart kicked the ball upfield. The ball bounced straight to the Banff full back who took advantage of a disorganised chase from Shetland to make yardage and pass the ball for the wing to score at the corner. Conversion was missed to put Banff 5-0 ahead.
Shetland kicked off and Banff won the restart and made ground upfield though their forwards. The next 10 minutes saw Shetland again camped in their half, with Banff making ground through their forwards and backs. But Shetland’s scramble defence stopped Banff from extending their lead. Eventually from a scrum 5m out Banff extended their lead with their centre scoring after a missed tackle by Shetland in midfield. Conversion was made to put Banff 12-0 ahead.
The remaining 10 minutes of the half saw Shetland play their best rugby of the half. They did get around the Banff defence a couple of times but the cover managed to put first Peter Farquar and then Peter Sidgwick into touch after dangerous breaks.
With time running out in the half a long kick from Shetland was fielded by the Banff fullback. Again the Shetland chase was poor and the Banff player picked the gaps to run through and play the ball to the support to score. Conversion was missed and at half time Banff led 17-0.
Shetland kicked off the second half with the wind at their backs. After a rare turnover by Shetland and a long clearance kick by Shane Jamieson the ball went over the Banff fullback and continued to bounce over the try line. Peter Sidgwick had continued to chase the ball and looked to have beaten the Banff player to the ball for the touchdown. The referee was unsighted and curiously gave an attacking scrum to Shetland.
With play now at halfway Banff put pressure on Shetland’s lineout and were awarded the scrum. Banff went right with a backrow move and then moved the ball left with the backs and worked an overlap and executed well to score at the corner for the best try of the game. Conversion was missed to put Banff 22-0 ahead and secure the try bonus point midway through the half.
Now in Banff’s 22, Shetland were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. Shetland tapped the penalty and after another two phases scrum half Jon Pulley scored at the posts. Jon missed the conversion to take Shetland back to 22-5.
For the next five minutes play was at halfway with neither team looking likely to break through, but out of nothing a Banff forward burst through the Shetland defence and showed good pace to score. Conversion was made to put Banff 29-5 ahead and end Shetland’s slim chance of a win. Play continued and with 10 minutes remaining Stuart Jamieson was yellow carded for consistently infringing at rucks. Down to 14 men, Shetland struggled to contain Banff and let in two more tries to go 39-5 down.
With time running out Joe O’Conner received the ball and chipped ahead and when looking likely to score was impeded by a Banff player who joined Jamieson in the naughty boy’s corner. Final Score was 39-5 to Banff.
Beaten by the better drilled team who dominated the contact and collisions, Shetland will still be frustrated by the losing margin as half the Banff points were directly from fairly basic Shetland mistakes in defence. Best for the team were Peter Sidgwick and Lewis King in the backs, Matthew Nicholson and Dave Broadford in the forwards. James Sinclair, Ben Crainey and Iain Nicol put in decent debut performances.
Shetland 0, Deeside 15
THE SHETLAND rugby team played their second home match in the league against Deeside last Saturday at Clickimin.
So far this season preparations have not been ideal, but there was a good turnout for the squad, with some having to be content to spectate for much of the game.
Despite the numbers the lack of experienced players was apparent quite early, with Deeside going over for the first of two soft tries from a tighthead at an early scrum, which became a regular feature of the match.
Shetland began to settle a bit and put some good phases together, rucking well and showing more confidence with the ball in hand.
However, passing was an issue and it was not long before Deeside scored their second try from a quick tap penalty. Their goal kicking hooker, using the ancient art of the torpedo place kick, was having no luck and missed his second conversion attempt.
Shetland managed to make two or three good breaks, with Scott Standring and Dhanni Moar featuring, but were unable to support them well enough to make it count.
At half time Shetland were down 10-0 but Deeside looked to be tiring and Shetland would have the benefit of the light wind for the second half.
Shetland started well and with Matthew Nicolson and Stuart Jamieson working hard at lineout time, pressure was on Deeside every time the ball went into touch.
A long range penalty by Shane Jamieson hit the post, then a Deeside player, before being touched down. The referee called for a drop out 22, but after captain Nicolson questioned the decision, the referee called for assistant David Smith to advise. Rightly the call was changed to a five metre scrum in favour of Shetland. Unfortunately they were not able to capitalise on their best opportunity to score, as it could have swung the game in their favour.
Shetland spent plenty of time on attack but were unable to capitalise and get over the line. The scrum, which had been wobbly most of the match, started to crumble midway through the second half, with Deeside winning several tightheads when Shetland were in an attacking position.
The ball to the backs was slow and the passing laboured, the lack of training and match time very obvious when Deeside applied pressure on the Shetland youngsters.
With 15 minutes to go Deeside broke out and scored their third try, again unconverted, which left the Shetland team deflated. Up until then they had still been in the game. The Deeside pack was well drilled and their backs sharp, with the fly half especially catching the eye.
There were some good performances for Shetland, but consistency and aggression were the missing ingredients up front and skill work is required if the backs are to trouble Orkney tomorrow.
Two areas that have improved since the first match were in and around the ruck and defence in the backs, led by winger Peter Sidgwick, who despite his small frame left several big men wondering what had hit them.
Shetland 42, Orkney B 14
THE SHETLAND rugby team won the Shetland Times Cup for the first time since 2003 with an excellent performance against a young Orkney second team.
With a fresh wind blowing diagonally across the pitch at Clickimin, Shetland won the toss and decided to play with the wind advantage in the first half.
Orkney kicked off deep and Shetland looked sharp. From the start the forwards were retaining possession and punching holes in the Orkney defence and the backs looked more fluid than in previous week. In the first five minutes possession was 50/50 but the Shetland defence was solid and pressurised Orkney well.
From a Shetland scrum at halfway the ball was moved wide by the backs. Full back Shane Jamieson cut through the Orkney defence and passed to Lewis King who got into the Orkney 22 but was well tackled by the cover defence.
Shetland retained the ball at the ruck and Orkney were penalised for encroaching offside in midfield. From a kickable position scrum half Jeff Dobson took a quick tap and passed to inside centre Steve Kershaw who picked a gap in the disorganised defence to score. The conversion was missed by Shane Jamieson to leave Shetland 5-0 ahead.
From the kick-off Shetland continued to have the better of the game and after a number of phases in the forwards the ball was played to Joe O’Connor who attacked the line at pace. Quick ruck ball was played out to Shane Jamieson who drew two players by arcing his run and passed to Peter Sidgwick on the right wing who outpaced the cover defence and managed to evade the Orkney full back to score at the corner. The conversion was missed again but Shetland were 10-0 ahead with 12 minutes played.
Soon after Shetland were awarded a penalty just outside the 22. This time they decided to go for the points and Shane Jamieson kicked it to put Shetland 13-0 ahead.
Orkney did start to come into the game after this and had the better of the next 10 minutes but Shetland defended well in their 22 and managed to hold on to stop Orkney scoring.
After this period of pressure Shetland did manage to get to halfway. From a ruck tight head prop Dhanni Moar burst through, showed good pace and managed to evade the last defender and score a fine individual try. Jamieson converted to put Shetland 20-0 ahead.
Orkney now started to dominate possession with Shetland guilty of silly penalties at the breakdown. After five minutes of sustained pressure, Orkney inside centre Adam Towrie picked a good line to score near the posts and the successful conversion made it 20-7 to Shetland with 10 minutes of the half remaining.
Shetland continued to struggle for the remainder of the half but crucially managed to stop Orkney from scoring further.
Shetland kicked off knowing the next score would be important and got back into their stride to pressure Orkney. They regained possession and went through a number of phases using their forwards and backs.
From an attacking scrum just outside the Orkney 22 Shetland ran a back move which checked the Orkney defence. Fortunately a poor pass to Maurice Williamson bounced into his hands and the ball was shipped to Peter Sidgwick on the wing who showed great determination to go over at the corner for his second try. The conversion was missed.
From the restart Shetland won possession and a couple of bursts from the forwards saw Shetland reach halfway. Orkney were penalised for handling in the ruck and scrum half Dobson took a quick tap to John Roy Nicholson who went through the first tackle but was tackled after gaining 10 yards. He was looking to be isolated until Dobson charged in and did excellently to drive his much larger opponent away from the ball and secure possession. The support arrived and the ball was moved wide through Stuart Jamieson and Joe O Connor. Maurice Williamson straightened the movement and managed to cut through the cover defence to score a fine team try. The conversion was missed leavilng Shetland 30-7 ahead with only 10 minutes played in the half.
The next 10 minutes saw a stalemate in midfield, Shetland seemingly happy with their lead and defending Orkney possession. Orkney scored midway through the half as Towrie got his second, running through from halfway and sidestepping full back Jamieson. The conversion was kicked to make the score 30-14.
Shetland made two changes with youngsters James Sinclair and Ian Nicol adding fresh legs and 10 minutes later the home side scored again. From a scrum on the Orkney 10 metre line Shetland number eight Matthew Nicholson picked up and scrum half Dobson ran a clever support angle to draw the defence. Nicholson ran through the gap and showed good pace to run in to score near the posts. The conversion was unsuccessful.
With time running out a break from flanker Danny Farnworth put Shetland in Orkney’s 22 and after a number of phases Kershaw scored his second from close range. Jamieson kicked the conversion to see the game finish 42-14 in Shetland’s favour. Orkney were better than the score suggests but Shetland scoring tries early in both halves made their task difficult and proved decisive. The best players for the away team were Gary Coultherd, Steven Kemp and try scorer Towrie.
In a good performance from the home team, every player made an impact with defence at rucks and handling much improved from earlier games. Best were half backs Dobson and O’Connor, forwards Matthew and John Roy Nicholson. Second row Stuart Jamieson pipped Peter Sidgwick for the Northwards man of the match with a robust performance and high work rate throughout the match. This weekend Shetland travel to West Dyce for the next game of the league campaign, hoping to gain some momentum from last weekend’s performance.
Aberdeen Wanderers 34 v 15 Shetland
FOLLOWING on from the excitement of the inter-county victory and a visit from the Calcutta Cup, Shetland RFC travelled to West Dyce on 4th October and recorded their first away win in nearly two years, meaning that the new Northwards sponsored strips (blue for home matches and white for away) both recorded wins on debut.Shetland 0 v 27 Huntly
SHETLAND lost their latest game in the Scottish Rugby Union regional leagues to a well-drilled Huntly outfit on Saturday.
Playing with the wind in the first half, Shetland started strongly in the first 10 minutes with a good kicking option which pushed Huntly back on to their line.
Some strong forward play saw Shetland retain possession after a number of phases and they were awarded a scrum five metres from the try line. Shetland tried a number eight pick-up which was halted by Huntly’s back row and Shetland were penalised for not releasing in the tackle.
This seemed to shake Huntly into action and they soon showed the form that has taken them to second place in the league. For the remainder of the half they controlled the game with strong play at the breakdown and an aggressive defence when Shetland were in possession.
Shetland were guilty of giving away too many penalties which eliminated the wind advantage and Huntly scored two converted tries to go 14-0 ahead at half time. Playing into the wind in the second half Shetland did raise their own game and put together some useful phases.
Huntly were still going well, however, and scored midway through the half with an unconverted try. Ten minutes later they struck a penalty between the posts to go 22-0 ahead.
Shetland’s best chance came from a Nathan Coote break but the final pass did not go to hand. With time running out a kick ahead from Huntly bounced favourably for them to gather and score and secure the try bonus point. Overall it was a decent enough performance by Shetland. The deficiencies of earlier games – the scrum and team defence – were greatly improved but Shetland were second best in contact and that was ultimately the deciding factor.
Best for Shetland were Dhanni Moar and Maurice Williamson while Joe O’Connor was the Northwards man of the match.
Duns 37, Shetland 6
Shetland 41 , West Dyce 11
Despite the NorthLink Ferry being cancelled on Saturday night, the intrepid Aberdonians made the trip north, keen to avenge the narrow loss to Shetland in the first encounter of the season at Westhill.
With the strong wind behind them, West Dyce looked to play the territorial game, forcing the young Shetland side to spend the first 15 minutes camped well in their own half. With Dyce on the attack, Shetland infringed at a ruck 20 metres out and the Dyce captain was happy to shoot for goal. The kick was successful, giving the visitors a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes.
The kick-off was a poor one and Dyce were soon on the attack, again playing it close to the forwards. Despite being under pressure at the scrum and line-out, they seemed to have the advantage at the breakdown, with too many of the young Shetland forwards spectating rather than participating in that area of the game.
Although it wasn’t a day for spinning the ball wide, Shetland wingers Peter Sidgwick and Peter Farquhar were hungry for work and made several breaks, without managing to beat the last defender.
Dyce scored the first try of the match after some poor defending and several missed tackles. The conversion was wide, leaving the score at 8-0 to the visitors.
The try seemed to spur the Shetland team into action and young Danny Farnworth made an immediate impact off the bench on the open side. Shetland attacked the Dyce line on several occasions with front rower Niall Christie, in his first start, going close before a lovely offload to fellow prop John Roy Nicolson, who somehow was held up by the Dyce defence.
It took a snipe around a ruck and in and out of three tackles by rookie scrum half Iain Nicol to finally put Shetland on the board with 32 minutes gone. This gave the loyal Shetland supporters some hope and the team looked ready to cut loose. Unfortunately, a penalty soon after kick-off gave Dyce a chance to extend their lead from 40 metres out. The kick was good, making the score 11-5 to Dyce at the break.
Some stern words at half time and the injection of Shane “Banjo” Patterson brought some much-needed cohesion to the Shetland pack and with the wind behind them, Shetland started to string some phases together.
Shetland’s second try was scored by right wing Sidgwick and Shane Jamieson converted from wide out to take the lead for the first time in the game at 12-11. Jamieson then added a penalty to extend the lead to 15-11 before scoring the next try, showing good pace after a nice inside break. He converted his try to make it 22-11.
When stand-in coach Robert Geddes introduced Steve “The Pirate” Glaister 10 minutes into the second half on the left wing, he had an immediate impact, catching the ball from the kick-off and making 25 metres or so, before being dragged to the ground.
Within minutes Glaister had the ball in hand again and left three defenders in his wake as he scored his first try in the league this season, giving Shetland a healthy 27-11 lead. This gave Shetland their four-try bonus point for the first time this winter.
West Dyce were starting to tire and sustained a couple of injuries and at this point Shetland could have relaxed. But showing they had learned from recent local games and the cup tie with Duns last week, they went for it. More substitutions were made with young whippet Simon Hildebrand coming on to the wing and Jeff Dobson replacing the livewire Nicol at scrum half.
With 10 minutes left on the clock Joe O’Connor put a cheeky kick through for the rampant Glaister to chase, which he did and scored near the posts. Again Jamieson nailed the conversion to give Shetland a 34-11 lead.
West Dyce lost their last front row forward to injury, so uncontested scrums were called by referee Paul Woods. This allowed Geddes to make more changes, giving the hard-working John Roy Nicolson and Kristian Fraser a rest and sending first Craig Mann and then James Sinclair back on.
With time running out O’Connor finally managed to step inside the defence and run in a try, which Jamieson converted to give Shetland a 41-11 win.
There were some very good displays, especially from the recently-returned Stewart Mouat and the other loose forwards. The Northwards man of the match was Iain Nicol.
A spokesman said the Shetland players would like to thank West Dyce for making the journey, knowing they would have to stay overnight, and hoped they enjoyed the local hospitality.
Tonight the team travels to Peterhead to face the bottom-of-the-table side, with sights set on a second away win of the season. With dry docking of the ferries affecting matches planned for February, there will be an opportunity for local matches, to allow the ever growing pool of players to cement their place in the squad for the remaining league fixtures in March.
Peterhead 15 Shetland 36
Shetland’s rugby squad secured a second successive win in the Caledonia Regional League Division II when they visited Peterhead at the weekend. The score was Peterhead 15, Shetland 36.
Shetland kicked off and the opening exchanges were very scrappy with neither team really taking control of the ball, but Peterhead gained an obvious territorial advantage with long spells in the Shetland half.
Peterhead did cross the Shetland line, only to be well held up with Shetland bodies piling in under the ball.
The first score of the game came from Shetland. The ball was turned over and spun wide which led to Shetland breaking the line from deep in the their own half with some good support play.
Joe O’Connor was tackled short of the line, but the ball was recycled quickly and went through the hands to Roy Temple who finished it off in the corner.
This seemed to spur the Peterhead boys on more, again camping Shetland in their own 22. After a good few phases of forward play they eventually got their reward with a try to tie the game at 5-5.
Shetland regained the advantage again before half time, however, with another two tries. The first was a chip through which was chased well by winger Maurice Williamson, and after a mix up in the Peterhead defence he only had to dive on the ball underneath the posts.
The next came from a quick tap which Shane Jamieson carried down the blind side before off-loading to scrum half Jeff Dobson to go over the line. Jamieson converted to make the score at the break 19-5.
The second half started with both teams looking to keep ball in hand and get it wide. As the ball was spun wide it was Williamson who again finished the move off for his second try.
Credit to Peterhead though as their heads never went down and they were again rewarded with another try.
Good defence from the hard-working Jimmy Smale manged to hold up the opposition’s big second rowers, but the Peterhead forwards, who battled hard all day with the Shetland pack, got the breakthrough, driving over from yards out.
Shetland replied when, after decent ball retention from the forwards, the ball got spun wide from deep and with good support and dummy runners Jamieson managed to run in the try under the posts, which was also converted.
Peterhead picked themselves up and after a series of penalties given by Shetland at the breakdown, the number 10 took a quick tap and left the Shetland pack standing, stepping past the cover defence to score.
With minutes remaining O’Connor rounded off the scoring, capping his man-of-the-match performance with a good try. He ran the ball from inside his own half and found a hole in the Peterhead defence before playing a nice pivot with second rower Irish Dave to give himself the space to finish off.
The 36-15 victory meant a good bonus point for Shetland, with the players now starting to gain some momentum which they can hopefully take into this weekend as they are due to host league leaders Aberdeen Wanderers.
Shetland 7 Aberdeen Wanderers 23
A decent performance saw Shetland score through Lewis King in the second half. Wanderers won the title today.
Deeside 42 Shetland 5
Shetland rugby played their penultimate game of the season last weekend, going down 42-5 against a slick Deeside team at Aboyne.
Travelling with only 15 players, Shetland had to reshuffle the line up and play a number of players out of position.
Shetland captain Matthew Nicholson kicked the game off and Deeside started going through their phases in the forwards. Shetland defended well for the first 10 minutes but after quick ball was recycled Deeside brought their fullback into the backline to create an overlap and score at the corner. The conversion was missed to put Deeside 5-0 ahead.
From the restart Deeside again spun the ball wide and made yardage and after a spell of possession scored once more through the winger. Conversion was made to put Deeside 12-0 ahead.
Shetland now seemed to adjust to the pace of the game and after winning the ball in their half, flank forward Jeff Shaw received the ball and offloaded in the tackle to fellow flanker Stuart Mouat. Stuart outpaced the cover but was tackled by the full back and the ball was turned over by Deeside who kicked long. Shetland gained possession and went through a couple of phases in the forwards. The ball was passed to stand off Maurice Williamson who managed to beat his opposite number and race through. A good tackle by the Deeside fullback saw Williamson offload to centre Matt Nicholson who ran in to score. Nicholson missed the conversion to put the score 12-5 in Deeside’s favour.
For the next 10 minutes Shetland managed to compete well but were being put under pressure at the scrum. Shetland number eight Jimmy Smale managed to make good yardage on a number of occasions from a scrum going backwards. Deeside did manage to kick two penalties in this period and on the stroke of half time scored another try which was converted to put them 25-5 ahead.
In the second half Shetland had the slight wind advantage and with a heavy snow flurry the next 20 minutes was a forward battle with Shetland holding their own, Williamson and Nicolson both making breaks that lacked support to finish the moves off.
Midway through the half Deeside scored again which was converted to put the score at 32-5. There were no more scores until the last couple of minutes. A good kick ahead from scrum half Tom Smale bounced away from the Shetland chasers and with the other players tiring Deeside managed to move the ball to score again. With the conversion missed, the score stood at 37-5.
From the restart Deeside won the ball and moved it wide left and back right, outflanking the Shetland players. They scored again to give a final score of 42-5 to the home team.
This was a determined performance by Shetland which saw their young front five of Ross Winks, Ian Robertson, Daniel Meadows, Ieaun Webb and Krystian Fraser battle right to the end. Northwards man of the match went to Maurice Williamson.