Moray edge out Banff

THE Moray 1st XV played their first game in more than a month and narrowly defeated Banff 20-17 in a Caledonia Regional League Division 2 North fixture at Banff.

Moray Rugby Club

The Elgin side had a number of regular forwards missing due to injury and unavailability, but immediately took the game to the opposition. Only some sound defending by Banff kept the scoreboard blank.

In the 14th minute, against the general run of play, Banff took the lead. They were awarded a penalty in their first foray into the opposition 22 and, from the resultant kick, took a 3-0 lead.

A minute later, however, it was 3-3 when Moray full back Andrew McBean landed a penalty after holding on the deck.

Five minutes later, the Elgin side took the lead. Stand-off Chris Clarke cleared the ball from his 22, getting good distance to set up a line-out on the home 10 metre line. The ball was taken against the throw and quick hands moved the ball through the back division to wing Cameron Hughes, with space, and he made the line for the try out wide. McBean superbly landed the extra conversion points from the touch line for a 3-10 lead.

The visitors were now in the ascendancy and in the 26th minute added another try. Some good driving play by the forwards took them to a scrum 5. Clean ball was taken and the ball again moved swiftly through hands to Hughes, who ran in his second score of the afternoon. McBean added the conversion for a 3-17 lead.

The home side started the second half brightly with their big forwards running hard at the Moray defence and in the 45th minute, they narrowed the gap. After a period of driving at the line, a penalty was given five metres out and the home scrum-half quickly tapped and went and made the line for a converted try and a 10-17 score line.

The visitors were being made to work very hard in defence but were up for it and when they produced quality ball, the backs looked very dangerous with ball in hand. Getting good ball was difficult, however, as it was being spoiled at the breakdown by the Banff forwards.

In the 67th minute, Moray were awarded a penalty 30 metres out when a high tackle halted a play in midfield. McBean calmly slotted the kick to stretch the lead to 10-20.

A few minutes later, another penalty was awarded in the Banff 22 for holding on the ground. The decision this time was to take a scrum to tie in the forwards and hopefully give room for the backs to conjure up a try. Unfortunately, the execution behind the scrum was not up to scratch and the opportunity was lost.

In the last five minutes, the home side tried frantically to get back in the game and with two minutes left on the clock, they scored a second try. The score was somewhat fortuitous as the referee missed a knock-on before the forwards drove over the line for a converted try, reducing the lead to 17-20.

The remaining couple of minutes were a bit hectic but the visitors held out to record the victory.

Both sides had been a bit rusty after such a long lay-off due to the weather, but they had served up a hard-fought encounter and credit should be given to the forwards who filled in for the regulars as they all worked hard and put in a good shift.

On Saturday (Jan 21) Moray are at home to Garioch in a league fixture. This will be another tough match and the Elgin side will be out to avenge the narrow defeat they suffered in Inverurie earlier in the season. Kick-off is 2pm.