Moray Rugby Club under-18s defeat Highland with very last kick in Saltire Energy U18 Caledonia Youth Cup and Shield rematch
The very last kick of the match decided a thrilling Caledonia Youth Cup clash between Moray and Highland’s rugby under-18 teams.
The teams had fought out a very close tie in Inverness a week earlier, and the rematch at Elgin’s Morriston playing fields was even closer.
Highland appeared to be on course for revenge for their 25-27 home defeat last week when they led by 17 points going into the closing minutes.
But they did not reckon on a sensational Moray comeback to snatch a second consecutive victory.
Moray started strongly scoring two early tries through centre Beinn Hay and centre Finlay Reid, both converted by scrum-half Logan McKenzie for a 14-0 lead.
Highland came storming back and scored three tries, two of those converted to take a five-point lead into the interval.
That advantage was extended by two more tries and one conversion, giving the Inverness youths a 31-14 lead which they held until the final seven minutes of the match.
It was a case of Moray being down, but definitely not out as they dug to the bottom of their resources and fought back into the tie.
McKenzie scored a try as did Mark Newman, with McKenzie converting one of these to reduce the gap to five.
In the very last minute, wing-forward Finlay Paton made it over the line for a try to tie the scores at 31-31.
McKenzie took on a pressure, last-play conversion knowing if he landed it he would win the match for his team.
He duly kept his cool and slotted a difficult kick between the posts to spark home celebrations.
It was a very good win for Moray against a strong Highland side in which they had shown great tenacity and work rate to turn round a 17-point deficit into a win.
They sit proudly top of the Group B table and next Saturday are away to Deeside.
