With the mixture of postponement and festive holidays, Aberdeenshire travelled to relegation threatened Glenrothes to play their first match in almost 2 months. Following a lacklustre warm-up, coach Eric Strachan reminded the team of the defeat two seasons ago at the hands of Lenzie (underdogs on the day), and warned that a similar result today would not be acceptable.

Shire started with the wind at their backs playing downhill, but although the elements were in their favour it was the home side that made the most of the early exchanges. Running like battering rams into the soft Shire defence, Glenrothes’ physical forwards bludgeoned their way up the pitch where the majority of the first 40 mins were played. The home side were helped somewhat by another cringing example of poor discipline conceding no less than 20 penalties, eventually resulting in “lock” Forman being sent to the bin.

The Shire lads arrived at the King Street pitches ready to face the ever improving young Uni team, whose position at the bottom of the league seemed to them injustice. The “expecting to win” attitude was set deep into the shire squads pre match warm up, but the boys knew they could not be complacent. With there being a bright sun and a light wind hanging over the pitch, it was fair to say it was a perfect day for a game of running rugby. The students won the toss, and they decided to put the sunlight into the away team’s eyes giving them a slight advantage.

The first half began with dominant pressure from the young University team, placing high balls into the sky giving problems for the backs when trying to collect the ball in the air. This unsettled play had shire stuck in a rut, as there was no aggression within the pack, and this showed with the King’s College team piling on the pressure.

Aberdeenshire faced Highland on Saturday at Fortress Woodside looking to preserve this season’s unbeaten home record. The reverse fixture earlier in the year had seen the Shire boys suffer their first defeat of the season with the Highland pack providing the sternest test to the Shire 8 so far. Coach Strachan had warned the team to expect simple rugby with big runners hitting-up round the fringes, urging the boys to tackle hard and low and cut them off at source.

The game kicked off with Shire receiving away from the clubhouse and an early knock-on offered the first chance for the 2 packs to lock horns. Both scrums held fast but Highland won their own ball and a few pick and gos eventually led to Shire conceding a penalty in front of their own posts. The Highland 10 stepped up to take a pop but pushed his kick wide of the upright. From the resulting 22 drop-out, Highland again ended-up in the Shire half with the same brand of rugby again resulting in a penalty for the Inverness men. This time the stand-off made no mistake and gave Highland the lead, 0-3.

Confident following the previous weeks dominating 2nd half display against Strathmore, Aberdeenshire made the long journey north to visit the homeland of Mally & Snelly, knowing that Orkney would prove a tougher challenge on their home turf of Pickaquoy. Conditions were as good as they get in the northern isles, allowing for attractive game styles to be adopted.

Playing with the wind in the first half, Shire took the kick off from which instant pressure forced an error at the first touch for the home side. Shire immediately found themselves close to the try line, but impressive Orkney defence and a little impatience from the visiting side saw them releasing the backs just that few phases too early with a turnover being the eventual outcome. Shires early territory didn’t go to waste however, when a penalty was awarded a few phases later, the ever consistent Gavin Cunningham slotted the first 3 points of the game. 0-3.

From the resulting kick off Shire were immediately put on the back-foot for the first time as Orkney stormed up the park into Shires 22. Poor discipline by the Shire pack helped Orkney even closer to the try-line, with a shrug of the shoulders seemingly denying Captain Gilmartin from a yellow card after the back-rower made a perfect tackle on the quick tap penalty taker having retreated just 1 yard at best.

Continued pressure from the home side led to the inevitable outcome of a try which came from their fullback. Try converted 7-3.This week saw the Shire backs come of age with some slick hands and good running lines with particular note to be made on centre James Metcalfe, making his Shire debut. Such was the standard of the backs play that both wingers MacLugash and Stephen managed to get their hands on quality ball wide in space, allowing both to make good yards. MacLugash came close to scoring 10 minutes in, but was tackled well by the opposition’s full back. From this however, Shire managed to force the Orcadians to knock on, on the 5 metre line, allowing the scrum to rumble over the line, Andrew Cook picking up the spoils, with Cunningham converting. 7-10. Cunningham again added to this pressure by slotting another penalty. 7-13.

Things weren’t to get any better for the visitors as Orkney maintained a fast and powerful tempo, which Shire seemed unable to control, leading to perhaps the softest try conceded by the Woodside men for a few seasons, as the number eight broke 5 or 6 tackles from the half way line to score. Half time score 14-13.

Message at half time, was “not good enough” and “poor discipline”.  These words were to be partly taken on board in the second half, which showed some excellent rugby by Aberdeenshire. The referee was playing his part in this game, and several penalties were given in both directions. First of all Shire took advantage of this with Cunningham striking another penalty well, but unfortunately the home side’s stand-off also had his kicking boots on, slotting another two penalties for the islanders. Score 20-16. Showing a lot more patience than the first half, Shire moved themselves deep into the opponents 22, and after sucking in the Orkney defence slick hands through the backs sent MacLugash over the line for an easy try. This time the conversion narrowly missed, through hitting the post. Score 20-21.

Shire looked to have gotten some luck with the referee, as the home side’s no.8 was sin-binned for dangerously taking out captain Gilmartin in the air from a kick off. Then with their tails up, mixed with a bit of complacency, Shire were struck again by this seasons “Achilles Heel” – Discipline. In a second half dominated by the Aberdeen team, Orkney never looked like scoring. Attempting drop goals far outside their 22 and kicking to the corners, there was never much intention from the Orcadians to run at Shire. Instead they opted to put the visitors into pressured situations, forcing errors. Lacking composure, Shires lack of discipline resulted in too many penalties (some dodgy decisions) being conceded but to Orkney’s kickers credit he took them well meaning the home side were able to regain the lead and maintain it to the final whistle.

Final score 26-21.

All in all Shire played a good game of rugby but lost the game through poor discipline. This is an issue to be addressed sooner rather than later with another tricky tie coming up against Highland. 

Shire were grateful for a home game after almost 4 weeks on the road, and the warm and welcoming feeling of the fortress Woodside (created by our Bar-maid and chef) was felt by all involved. Before the game Coach Strachan emphasised the need for a performance from all players as competition for places was increasing week by week.

Unfortunately, this attitude wasn’t brought into the warm-up which was lacklustre, and frustrating due to administration and car problems for Strathmore which meant the kick off was delayed by 10 minutes. As usual the team were well fired up after clear instructions of what was required by Strachan followed up by stern words by Captain Gilmartin and fans favourite Livingston.  

Shire, playing in blue this week, received the kick and were playing away from the clubhouse.

The Aberdeenshire gang travelled down on a packed bus to the positively tropical Hillfoots RFC for, what turned out to be an enthralling game of cup rugby. With a relatively experimental team due to injuries and unavailability the lads knew that there was more than just a game at stake, but an opportunity to offer themselves up as a potential first team player.

The journey down had obviously taken some toll on the legs of the Shire boys as there was a very lacklustre warm up to begin with. This was possibly due to the lack of leg room on the coach. There were also a couple of late arrivals as a result of getting lost in Scotland. After going through the motions Aberdeenshire were back into the changing rooms changed, prepped, and ready to get down to business. Craig Catto – captain for the day - gave his sermon and the boys set about their task.

Shire started promisingly, playing the better rugby uphill in the opening quarter, with both forwards and backs looking sharp and breaking the gain line with some strong running, Matt Lynch attacking the Hillfoots defence with Iain Irvine in support offering and hitting the gain line at, what some people would call fast walking.  Ross Bennie-Coulson and Kenny Penman were often out with the pretty boys creating further options. However Hillfoots were also in the attacking mood and replied with a similar attacking mentality especially out wide.  Both teams had a penalty chance in kickable range but Jamie Stephen just missed, fortunately so did the opposition kicker. However Hillfoots eventually broke their duck with a converted try after their number 8 dropped on the ball once there scrum pushed over the Shire’s try line.

Chad Frenchman was brought off due to a dead leg and Willy Parker making his first team debut came on the right wing, along with Ryan “LSD” Mountain on for Lewis Elmslie.

After regrouping behind the posts, Aberdeenshire knew  that the score had gone against the run of play and it was Shire who was playing the better rugby. Once play was restarted Shire looked dangerous with good forward play, however there were times in attack when panic and inconsistency set in. A Christian Cullen-esque run from Jamie Stephen created a much needed spark running deep from his own half throwing out steps like they were going out of fashion. There was a spell of Shire built pressure on the Hillfoots try line, after taking a quick penalty Andy Cook was given the ball out on the right wing and was unlucky not to power through to score. Instead Aberdeenshire were penalised for holding on after battering at the door of the home teams try line, Hillfoots gratefully cleared the ball into touch. Unfortunately, Hillfoots increased pressure in the kicking department; box kicking Malcolm “champion” White over his head at one stage, not knowing where he was, let alone the ball! Hillfoots pressure in the Shire half eventually took its toll again after Shire were penalised in the twenty-two  and Josh Carr took a team yellow by “tactically” kicking the ball away from their scrum half. Hillfoots pressure increased again through their pack and a few pick and goes led their scrum-half to pick and score with no defenders on the open-side fringe of the ruck.

Halftime- 14-0

After the break Aberdeenshire were now playing downhill and they really upped the intensity, and duly followed gaffer Eck’s instructions of attacking the blind-side. From then on Paul Harrow looked to attack blind and with forward support Aberdeenshire found they were consistently breaking the gain line and putting Hillfoots on the back foot. Eventually the Hillfoots defence was scattered, with a mismatch on, Harrow whipped a quick ball to Lynch who hit the gap passing to MacLugash running down the wing, who managed to offload to Mally before being tackled into touch. This build-up of pressure gave Doig the first try of the game for Shire which wasn’t converted.

This was the beginning of Shires’ best spell of the game, with all the players playing like a team. The scrum was solid and Catto had a superb day in the lineout reinforced by Howie and Carr (once his tactical ten minute cool down had finished.) The same mentality of attacking blind and mauling from the lineout caused Hillfoots problems all half and from the back of a maul Bennie-Coulson went over for a try which again wasn’t converted.  Irvine, now on the right wing, with Parker in centre was close to a score after a sharp run from Harrow down the blind, he gave a flat pass to Irvine who skinned his opposite man and as the line approached a foot crept into touch and Hillfoots were let off the hook. Willy Parker was the next scorer for the Shire after taking a ball on a sharp angle five metres out, he powered over with a cheeky swan dive which was converted by Jamie Stephen. The game plan of kicking into the corners and playing in the Hillfoots half was working a treat for Aberdeenshire and with the penalties racking up against Hillfoots the referee showed a yellow to a constant offender and he was sent to the bin to have a word with himself. More pressure from the Shire in Hillfoots twenty-two from a maul eventually gave Lewis “Hucknall” Elmslie a clear run at the ten which he greatly accepted. The Hillfoots fly half said post-match as Elmslie began his descent “He was falling from the stars, straight into my arms.” Once again the conversion was missed. A kickable penalty was presented to Aberdeenshire Mally White now kicking unfortunately hit the post. The score was now 14-22 in Aberdeenshire’s favour, all Shire’s points came within a thirty minute bombardment.

 Jamie Stephen was substituted for Duncan Angus due to an injury, so Irvine was brought into outside centre and Angus put on the wing.
The last ten minutes of the game was turned on its head after a poor clearance the Hillfoots back three ran in a try after attacking down our right flank, the conversion was missed. 19-22. Hillfoots then attacked ferociously and Aberdeenshire responded with some aggressive defence even their prop Butterbean couldn’t break through the defensive line. Bennie-Coulson then made a terrific turnover under Shire’s posts and the clearance kick did not find touch. From this a penalty was given to Hillfoots and it was slotted comfortably.

E.T- The Extra Time.

After eighty minutes of rugby at 22-22 the game went into extra-time, once the confusion had been cleared up-that the game wasn’t decided on tries scored. The heavens opened and Aberdeenshire began the first half of extra time. Once again going uphill Aberdeenshire were pinned deep into their half, Hillfoots were awarded a penalty, practically in front of the posts and, thanks to the off putting words of Andrew Cook, the kick was missed. After ten minutes the first half of extra time was over.

The second half of extra time started promisingly with Parker using his monster boot putting Hillfoots into the corner. But after that the referee’s penalty count against Shire rose at an abnormal rate. This caused Hillfoots to put Shire back into their half and more defence was needed. Eventually with the referee still penalising the Shire on their own line, Hillfoots spread the ball left but the attack was quashed. However Hillfoots then moved the ball to the right midfield and their fly-half, who had recovered from his Simply Red experience, went over for a try. John Howie made a terrific attempt to hold up the ball and, after a solid glance at the held up ball the referee gave a try to Hillfoots. The referee convinced that the ball travelled through John “Houdini” Howie’s body. The conversion was missed. There was still a chance for Aberdeen to stage a last gasp comeback but it wasn’t to be, the ball eventually heading into touch after a “do or die” attempt to get the ball wide for a final attack. The Cinderella story was not to be.

Final score- Hillfoots RFC, 27- Aberdeenshire RFC, 22

What must be emphasised within this cup game was the team effort, everyone, one to eighteen put heart and soul into the match. After a hundred minutes of rugby the progress of Aberdeenshire in the cup was not to be, the progress in character and team spirit however was unquestionable. Everyone deserved a beer after the game and those who filled the back end of the party bus on the trip back were privileged to hear the stories of Ryan Mountain’s Fear and Loathing in South Africa.

On Saturday, the men from Woodside packed light for one of the shortest away trips on the fixture list with a clash against local rivals Gordonians RFC.
Having survived a torrid six-hour bus ride home from Thurso after a win against Caithness the previous week, Shire welcomed the brief journey down Anderson Drive for the encounter at Countesswells.

Going into the game, the men in black and red knew they would be facing a Gordonians side who fancied their chances following back-to-back wins over Caledonia 1 league contenders Highland and Orkney. But Shire were determined to maintain their position as league leaders and secure bragging rights from the game.  

 

The long trip up to Thurso began on Friday night where the lads travelled up to Lybster to stay the night to land us in good stead for game day. A necessary stop in Inverness saw the shire boys get one over on the highlands already, by gaining 5 free margarita pizzas on top of the order of 4,637 regular meat feasts! The inspiration for the following day was provided by Any Given Sunday and Dirty Sanchez, although only one of the boys drew upon Dirty Sanchez the next day. You know who you are...
 
Game day was upon us. With nerves running high, as in previous years shire have not travelled to Thurso well, the team proceeded to Lybster harbour to relax. All bar 2 of the lads - who decided to spoon for the whole morning-joined in the fun and games on the way to the harbour where the legendary photo pose began to cement itself in history...
 

 

This Saturday saw the theatre of dreams entertain Glenrothes. After easily defeating the side in the first round of the shield in the first competitive league game of the season the squad were warned about being complacent. Although there were several changes to the team due to unavailability and last minute injuries, the warriors from Woodside were still confident.

Opening exchanges saw the shuffled pack, get stuck in with the same enthusiasm that they have become known for in the league. Dominant in the scrums, and making the opposition try and go through the home side rather than round them. ‘Vanilla Gorilla’ Stuart Crawford, who doesn’t like his time wasted on or off the pitch, was leading by example, working tirelessly in the tight allowing the more flamboyant backs to try and open up the game, like in the cup fixture when Shire were so successful out wide. This looked to bring the first score of the day as well, with Paul Harrow going over in the corner. But to the disbelief of the vocal home crowd it was disallowed for a double movement. The winger tried to defend himself by saying ‘that’s how the bird likes me to move,’ but the referee was having none of it. The home side did manage a penalty though, slotted easily by Gav Cunningham. 3-0.

With instructions being given by big Eck on the sidelines, this encouraged the home side to again, play to their strengths, moving the ball through the hands and using the abundant pace of the outside backs. Shire managed to do this and it ended up in a well worked, team try, being finished by winger Chad Frenchman in the corner. The winger being so pleased with himself that he even remembered to wear his shirt after the game for once. This was converted by the excellent Cunningham, playing at stand-off, who was even heard saying if he got all his kicks today he would buy a new Mackenzie tracksuit. 10-0.
The back row for Shire were slaving away and as well as winning turnover ball, they were also first to pounce on several loose balls. A scrum was then given to the opposition 10 metres from their try line and Bennie-Coulson (back row convert) profited from some poor hands, and cleaned up the visiting teams scraps and fell onto the ball to put shire in a confident mood going into half time, with Cunningham again converting.

Half time 17-0.

Shire continued to dominate the game in the 2nd half, but could not always find the finishing touch. The Glenrothes line was being constantly hammered by the shire pack but to no avail, however it required the experience, pace and timing of newly voted Woodside fans favourite Craig ‘ye tube’ Livingston to eventually break through the solid Glenrothes defence. With young scrum half Scott Simpson ready to give the ball to the backs after several pick and go’s from the forwards, Livingston ran a beautiful arcing run, received a short pop pass and with a swivel of the hips and cheeky side step (practiced during the week at training proving you can teach old dogs new tricks) the defence never moved so he reverted to the old technique of if you can’t go round them go through them and eventually bundled his way over the white wash to score. The conversion this time was narrowly missed, but Gavlar made up for this by slotting another penalty to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Unfortunately this was the last score for the home side, and were not able to get that elusive bonus point which could be decisive later on in the season.

Final Score 25-0.

Glenrothes to their credit were much improved from the shield game in August, but the men from Woodside will look to get the bonus point in games like these in the future. But on a more positive note Shire were able to boast a clean sheet at home, helping Woodside live up to its fortress name. Man of the match was awarded to Cunningham after another fine performance at his newly found stand off position. Unfortunately due to his one missed kick, he did not get that Mackenzie track suit, so not all was rosy for the stand off.

Match day 5 of Caley League 1 saw shire travel to the North East’s number one seaside resort and home of the deep fried mars bar, Stonehaven, to face Mackie FP’s. After a good warm up and strong words from the coaches and captain, the boys were raring to go. So Shire started the game on the front foot, with good counter rucking from Livingston and Doig which saw Shire win turnover ball from the first breakdown of the match. Then a few quick phases saw Craig Catto cross over for an early try and a great start to the game for shire.

Instead of building on this the shire players went backwards and allowed Mackie back into the game. Some ropey defending, lineouts and clearance kicks kept shire pegged back in their own half for long periods of the first half. However shire eventually managed to put some phases together which resulted in Big Cook crossing the line and slowly trotting to place the ball behind the posts, to give shire a 14 point lead. Unfortunately the rest of the half continued to be a scrappy affair with Shire not taking the game by the scruff of the neck, and allowing Mackie to kick a penalty to make the score 3-14 at half time.

The final home game of the season for Shire was against Glasgow Accies at Woodside on Saturday, and with some revenge due for the result in Glasgow earlier in the season and after two home bonus point wins in a row, Shire were determined and confident.

There was another big crowd down to support the boys and Howie’s parents made the trip up as well – even if the auld man was supporting the wrong team. The game kicked off with Shire playing away from the clubhouse and in a fairly even start two penalties were swapped to make the score 3-3.

After that, the much talked about Shire forward dominance went missing as Accies upped their game and deservedly took the lead after a break from the scrum, unconverted. Worse was to follow as some poor tackling in the Accies half led to a breakaway try from their own 22, this time converted for a 15-3 score line.

Since the announcement of the regionalisation of the leagues which found Aberdeenshire in Caley 1, the inter city game with the university would be a fixture that would stick out for many different reasons.  From city pride, the spark up of old rivalries and more recent grudges, due to a few students having already made the move to Woodside to wear the Aberdeenshire shirt.

The students started quickly by spreading the ball wide, showing their youthfulness and pace that caught Aberdeenshire off guard, although no points came from this. Shire then started to take control and the pack was able to slow the ball down and take the game on their own terms.

Shire then started to play to their strengths, with some hard running from centre Ian Irvine that managed to take two or three players to tackle him, giving Shire quick ball and they were able to pass it through the hands quickly allowing winger Paul Harrow to dive in the corner. The conversion was narrowly missed from the touchline.

The Shire lads turned up in Inverness knowing exactly what kind of game awaited them - a hard, physical game where a win would only come if the forwards smashed everything in sight, and the backs stuck to the game plan. Everyone was up for the game, and during the warm up, everyone looked sharp and prepared for the game to come.

After the kick off, game play was even - with no side having an immediate advantage - and as predicted, a brutal encounter. The Highland pack knew what they had to do - the same thing Shire was trying to do to them. Rucks were becoming messy with both sides fighting for everything, and with the referees patience wearing thin, Highland were awarded a penalty, which they converted. First score to the home team, 3-0.

Shire immediately fought back, with possession and territory in their favour, but no points to show for it. Play continued with there being several penalties awarded, and Shire not being able to get out of their own half often. One Highland attack down the blindside then led to the first try of the match. This was due to a lack of numbers for Shire and some quick hands and hard running by the home side allowing the winger to go over untouched in the corner for an easy first try. The touchline conversion was missed, meaning Shire were on the wrong side of an 8 point deficit.

Game play continued in much the same style, with rucks and mauls becoming a focal point for the referee’s willingness to hand out penalties, and eventually, yellow cards. A Highland player was sin-binned for repeated rucking offences, which gave Malcolm White a chance for a pop at goal, which he managed to slot over. The score was 8-3, with Shire knowing they had to take advantage of their opponents being a man down. Unfortunately, Shire prop Andy Sutherland earned himself the coveted "Dick of the Day" title for doing exactly the same thing, and earning himself his first ever yellow card! Shocking, that it is only his first!

Half time: Highland 8 – 3 Aberdeenshire.

With neither team being able to take advantage of their additional numbers and once both players returned to the pitch, game play continued as normal, before a penalty gave Highland good pitch position. From the resulting lineout they took full advantage by driving over the try line from a maul. The conversion was missed meaning the score line was now 13-3. Shire knew they had to step up their game, to salvage a win. This started through replacement stand-off Martyn Snell (moving from centre due to injury to Ian Redmond) who managed to clearly break the home defence with a dummy cut, but just didn’t quite have the legs to go the whole distance. The break came though, as yet another yellow card to a Highland player gave Shire a penalty. This was taken full advantage of, as the resulting penalty was kicked into touch 10m from the home teams try line.

A couple of phases from the resulting lineout forwards brought Shire within 5m of the line, and after some quick rucking, temporary captain of the day Steven Cook picked up the ball and drove over the line to give Shire their first try of the day. The conversion was narrowly missed, bouncing back of the upright. With the score line now at 13-8, Highland were worried, and Shire were fired up, now being within a score of taking the lead. Unfortunately, another penalty gave Highland an additional 3 points, bringing the score to 16-8 and leaving Shire needing a converted try and another score to win. Not even debutant youngster Graham Doig could facilitate a win - even though during this period he earned himself "Man of the Match". Highland managed to hold on for the final few minutes and as the final whistle went, the score remain unchanged.

Final score Highland 16-8 Aberdeenshire.

A disappointing loss for the third game of the season, especially with the knowledge that a couple of missed chances, grounded passes and greater levels of aggression could have changed the result. Plenty to work on for next week’s game at home to Aberdeen University, and especially for the return leg with Highland at Woodside later in the season. All at the club would also like to wish Ian Redmond a speedy recovery after sadly breaking his ankle during the match.

A strong second half performance from the Super Twas wasn’t enough to break down a Ross Sutherland team who won there second home league game of the season to go top of the league.

The team made the trip up North to Invergordon looking to get their first win of the season after a narrow defeat to RAF Lossiemouth the previous week. A short but heavy rain shower before the match made for slippery conditions in the match.

Ross Sutherland came out strong from the kick off and won a penalty early on which the kicker failed to turn into points. Shortly after the home side went over for their first try of the game.

The Twas kept their heads up but were struggling to cope with the strong forward game being played by the highland side and conceded 3 more trys in the first half, two of which were converted making the score at half time Ross Sutherland 28-0 Super Twas.

Shire came out fighting in the second half and were unlucky not to get any points on the board while Ross Sutherland went over for two more trys. The home side had two players sin binned in the second half for Hands in the ruck and Tackler not rolling away. But Shire failed to capitalise on this numeric advantage.

Shire were in control for large periods in the second half winning line outs and penalties in the home sides 22 and coming close to the line a handful of times, but sadly could get on the scoreboard. Final score Ross Sutherland 38 – 0 Super Twas.

The team was made up of a lot of new faces playing together for the first time alongside some more senior members. This will no doubt improve over the coming weeks, as the second half showed, and turn performances into results, starting against Lochaber at Woodside this Saturday.

A beautiful day at fortress Woodside saw the opening league game of the newly formed Caley 1.  The game was brought forward to midday to allow the islanders to return via the ferry that night. This was always going to be a deciding fixture between two of the leagues better sides, and the match did not fail to live up to the bill.

With a good crowd up to watch the clubs first league game under Eric in over a year, the team needed little encouragement. A good pre-season and several additions to the squad meant the club were in the best position to aim for the league.

Opening exchanges between the forwards were extremely physical, with trademark big hits from Woodside favourite Craig ‘caveman' Livingston and captain for the day.

Saturday saw the start of Aberdeenshire’s 2011/2012 campaign in the cup competition against Glenrothes RFC who we will be playing later in the year in the restructured Caledonia 1 league. This would be a good test for Shire after a gruelling preseason and a good indication of how well this new young side would gel for the forthcoming season.

Spirits were high at Shires traditional meeting point at Harlaw Academy with the first team sharing the bus with the travelling Super Twas Sevens team (which was packed with bright young faces, much to the sinister delight of Ross Bennie-Coulson) and for once all players arrived on time but Big Les and his bus were nowhere to be seen. When the bus finally did arrive the players were horrified to discover there was no toilet on board, a fact that would come back to haunt a certain senior player on the trip back home.

Upon arrival in Glenrothes, Director of Rugby Colin Bell’s sense of direction completely deserted him and despite numerous claims of ‘I have played here lots of times, I’m sure it’s just down here, I think I can see rugby posts over there’ we ended up driving aimlessly around Glenrothes putting Big Les’ driving skills to the test by sending him up and down a myriad of small alleyways that Gary Leith in his little (girlie) Mini would have had trouble negotiating. Luckily a kind local came to our aid and drove us to the ground, Coco’s navigation skills immediately returned: ‘Ah yes I remember this road now’.

The weather in Fife was ideal for running rugby and after instructions from Coach Eric Strachan (in his first game back as head coach after a short hiatus) and Kris Gilmartin (in his first competitive game as the new 1st XV captain), Shire set about their task of laying down a marker for the season to come. And what a marker it was, straight out of the blocks the team showed their intent on how they wanted to play, with the big boys rumbling it up the centre for a few phases before quickly recycled ball allowed debutant half back pairing Scotty Simpson and Ian Redmond to unleash the potent Aberdonian backline. Oh and what a sight it was to behold, Kenny Penman’s luxurious hair bouncing along as he outstripped the Glenrothes backs to score the first of his two tries for the afternoon (you could almost hear the voice of injured and absent second rower John Mason shouting ‘Kenny do good!’). And do good he certainly did, with a fine centre partnership blossoming between himself and veteran Orcadian Martyn Snell, fresh and invigorated after his recent honeymoon.

Immediately from the kick off number eight Andy Cook scored an excellent individual try (also his first of two) going over virtually untouched after a jinky solo run from the half way line. The experienced tight five, exercising excellent energy conservation and brilliant faith in their team mate, remained virtually stationery in their own half, taking the opportunity to discuss the merits of chasing after little Cooks and wisely deciding the energy expended would be better utilised for future scrums and other such things during the game.

Further tries were scored in the half by Andy Forman (another player debuting for the 1st XV) and Craig Catto, who pulled his hamstring during the move by unwisely trying to keep up with the backs. This led to one of the most mismatched substitutions in rugby with little Robbie Redmond coming on to replace the big second rower, mismatched in size perhaps but not in effort as Redmond had a superb game in his first outing for the 1st team and was a constant nuisance at the breakdown all afternoon.

The only blemishes on a fine first half display were a soft try conceded through the midfield and the injuries to Craig Catto and Ryan Mountain (yet again). Half time score: Glenrothes  7 – 29 Aberdeenshire.

The second half saw much of the same from the Aberdeen outfit, with line break after line break and only the excellent scramble defence of the Glenrothes full back keeping the score line down. Further tries were scored by Michael MacLugish, Ian Redmond (who was prolific with the boot, I’ll leave you to work how many conversions he got), Gavin Cunningham and a rumbling forwards try by John Howie.

A particular highlight for the travelling support and those on the sideline was John Howie’s apparent flashback to his days as an American GI in ‘Nam. With Scotty Simpson taking a knock and going down injured the physio had started to make her way up the touchline, for Howie (who apparently had lost too many of his brothers-in-arms due to lack of swift medical treatment) this was not quick enough and he began yelling ‘PHYSIO, PHYSIO’ uncontrollably at the top of his voice in a desperate attempt to save his fallen comrade (much to the bemusement of the physio who by this stage was already treating the injured scrum half).

Thankfully this tale has a happy ending with Simpson miraculously surviving his harrowing ordeal. Some say this is down to the expert treatment he received from the Shire medical staff, but this reporter is inclined to believe that John Howie is the real hero of this story. What many had first thought was a gross over reaction to the situation had ultimately saved the day!

All in all a fine display by Aberdeenshire on their first outing. The forwards looked powerful and the backs looked slick and full of pace. The team still acknowledged there was plenty of work to do through conceding three tries in the game, with two of these being reasonably soft. Hopefully this bodes well for the 2011/2012 campaign in a league where Shire should certainly be one of the favourites for the title.

Full time score: Glenrothes 17 – 56 Aberdeenshire

The bus journey home was enjoyed by all and there are no incidences to report here.