Orkney U16's v Moray U16’s
2nd Round of Caledonia Cup
Orkney U16's v Moray U16’s
2nd Round of Caledonia Cup
On Sunday Moray paid their third visit of the season to Orkney, each team having won one of the previous games. The bright sunshine and lack of wind was a marked contrast to the game in November when the driving rain, cold and sleet made the game an endurance event. The center pitch at Picky and the KGS pitch were frozen but the excellent grass cover on the outfield pitch at Picky meant that the frost hadn’t effected it too much and was safe for a game to be played on. Both teams had squads of twenty players to call upon and the prospects for the game was that it would be hard fought between two very evenly matched teams, this proved to be the case and the many spectators who enjoyed the sunshine were able to watch an excellent game.
From the start Orkney showed that they were going to take the game to Moray, from the kick off the Moray receiver was caught and driven backwards as Orkney players charged forwards. The scrum was awarded to Moray and as they won the ball a good clearance kick down field seemed to have cleared the danger. Aiden Drever, the Orkney full back collected the ball, he ran hard but a good tackle brought him down. Orkney had regrouped and won the ball at the ruck before spinning it wide. The backs passed the ball quickly to Paul Tait, on the wing, who made ground into the Moray half. Aiden had to leave the field as Orkney were awarded a penalty on the 22m, line Shaun Raeburn came on as the substitute and his first task was to take the penalty. He was successful and Orkney were three points ahead after two and a half minutes.
Moray were quickly back into action and tried to establish attacking moves but they dropped the ball quite frequently due to the pressure from the Orkney players. Sam Lacey-Brown took his chance to play the game of his career as a wing forward, he tackled and harassed the Moray backs so much that they either lost the ball or gave a bad pass to a team mate. When this happened Robert Donaldson generally finished the move by making a crunching tackle on the player receiving the pass, on one occasion the Moray player knocked the ball forwards by at least five meters after Robert put in a well timed tackle. Sam was also in action driving forwards and linking with Toby Penwarden after Paul Tait made a run into midfield. The driving play of the forwards at the breakdown was excellent during this period of the game , the work by Kevin “Sinkie” Sinclair at Saturdays training session really paying off. Euan Dunnett and Robbie Firth were always in the action in these situations.
Moray were the next to score, even though Orkney had stolen their ball at the scrum inside the Orkney half of the pitch. Orkney had the ball but a bit of panic as the ball was passed wide resulted in a clearance kick being charged down by the Moray players. The ball fell perfectly for their winger who took his chance well, taking the ball cleanly and out sprinting everyone down the wing, he also managed to get around the cover to touch the ball down close to the goal posts. The kick for two extra points was good and Moray had the lead 7 - 3 after eleven minutes.
Scott Rendall had up to this point had a fairly quiet game by his standards, just making some good tackles, a few short drives and a couple of throws into the line out. For the next twenty four minutes he completely destroyed Moray. He picked up at the base of the scrum and went up the blind side of the scrum so many times that Moray must have been in despair because he was so difficult to stop. On the first occasion he passed the ball out to Paul Tait on the wing who had a excellent forty meter run and was only prevented from scoring by a superb tackle a meter short of the try line. Scott then stole the ball from the lineout and drove forwards dragging three or four Moray players with him, the ball was kept alive by Jamie Bruce and Toby Penwarden but a knock on in front of the posts gave Moray a five meter scrum.
Orkney stole the ball and Scott went for the line but brave tackling kept him out, from the next scrum he was held up as he got over the try line but he wasn’t finished! From the next five meter scrum he got over the line for a try. The conversion attempt went just wide but the lead was eight points to seven for Orkney after seventeen minutes of action.
The Orkney players were eager to be involved in play and backs and forwards combined really well to move play deep into the Moray half, Liam Sharpe had a great run and dodged in field as the cover defense closed in. Orkney drove the maul and worked the ball further forward, Moray seemed to have survived the onslaught but play was inside the Moray 22m area. They were under pressure as they couldn’t win their own ball at the scrum, Orkney won the ball again and the Moray forwards broke up early, a penalty was awarded to Orkney. Scott took it quickly and broke a couple of tackles before crashing over the line to score a try. The additional points brought the score up to fifteen points to seven as the half time whistle was blown by referee Ian Rushbrook.
The second half was more of the same, total commitment and effort from both sets of players. Craig Stout was getting good ball from the pack and he was able to keep the pack going forwards. Jamie Bruce and Brett Dickinson were much more involved in loose play and Moray had to use two or three tacklers to bring them to the ground. Darren McLean also posed a big threat in the center as he was almost clear on a couple of occasions but he was still able to get the ball to a team mate as he was tackled.
Thirteen minutes into the second half Orkney were deep in the Moray half, the slow ball move had worked well up to this point but a lack of concentration in setting it up allowed Moray to steal the ball back and drive through the midfield. Tackles were made but Orkney realized that Moray were still a threat. Orkney attacked again and good cover tackling put Euan Dunnett into touch fifteen meters from the Moray try line. Orkney were now dominating all set pieces of play and after winning the line out the ball was taken up to the try line, it was re- cycled three times until play was in front of the posts. Moray were completely stretched when a good pass out to the right left Darren McLean with a quick sprint to the try line. The conversion missed but the score was a comfortable twenty points to seven.
Moray then produced their best period of play and after being held up over the line twice they were awarded a well deserved try close to the posts. Orkney players were tiring but knew they only had ten minutes of play left, a few changes were made to try and pick up the pace of the game again. It worked and again Orkney were deep into Moray’s half of the field. With the Moray props having left the field all the scrums were uncontested. This allowed Moray to get their share of the ball for the first time in the game and they began to perform much more effectively. Despite one or two good attempts to score again Orkney were forced back into their own half, defending against a team who knew that a converted try would give them the game.
Moray created an overlap on the wing when the Orkney players started to miss their tackles, with a five on one situation in their favour. Scott Rendall’s experience showed as he intercepted a pass that could have given Moray a great scoring chance, he raced away down field with the ball. Two Moray players were hard on his heels, one player managed to get hold of him but not by enough as he kept going and scored by the posts, another 70meter try like the one he scored against Caithness two weeks ago. Shaun Raeburn gained the two extra points to give Orkney the breathing space they needed before the final whistle went to end the game.
Final score twenty seven points to fourteen to Orkney. A great game for the spectators and the players who got a well deserved round of applause at the end of the game. Scott Rendall was the man of the match but all the six boys who played for the Highlanders earlier in the season demonstrated that they had a little bit extra. Sam Lacey- Brown and Robert Donaldson definitely raised their games and on their performance could easily have been identified as district class players.
Thanks to the parents who prepared the meal for the players of both teams and Ian Rushbrook for giving up part of his weekend to enable the boys to enjoy an exciting game of rugby.