ATHOLL COLTS vs. Aberdeen Grammar 24/02/08
The ARFC Colts had their first victory in their maiden Caledonia Cup fixture against Aberdeen Grammar last Saturday. The Colts, lead by lock, Jack Low put Aberdeen under pressure right from the kick off with great chasing & aggressive tackling. This set the tone for the Young Highlanders play for the rest of the match. With good support of the ball carrier at the breakdown the Atholl Colts hit the contact areas with power & commitment, which was vital against a large very physical Grammar pack.
After several phases of sustained pressure in Grammar territory, in a pre-planned move, outside half Matt Burrows & inside centre Fred Ridley drew in the defence before switching brilliantly with outside centre Stuart Bailey whose wonderful change of angle allowed him to scythe through would-be tacklers to score near the posts. Matt coolly kicked the conversion.
Aberdeen came back aggressively, attacking the ruck area with their big forwards & putting the Atholl players under immense pressure. The Highlanders responded with equally aggressive rucking & great support at the breakdown to ensure they retained & recycled possession. Frustrated at their inability to stifle the Atholl continuity, Aberdeen were adjudged to persistently infringe at the breakdown causing one of their back row to be given a yellow card & spend 10 minutes in the “sin bin”.
The Atholl pack began to use their dominance with good forward driving play, which resulted in another infringement by Grammar within kicking range. Matt Burrows duly obliged by slotting the three points to take the Highlanders ahead by 10-0.
With more open running from the Atholl backs they took play deep into the opposition 22 area, where the ball was quickly recycled from a ruck & fed out to prop Lewis Hall who used his pace & power to drive through several defenders for a well deserved try. With the conversion missed Atholl led 15-0 at half time.
The second half was more even with Aberdeen using their seven subs to inject some fresh legs into the game in order to gain some control over Atholl. The Highlanders dug deep with fearless tackling & great support in all areas of the field, stifling every Grammar attack & causing them to kick possession away deep into the Atholl half.
David Colthart, playing his first ever game at full back covered brilliantly to collect all the Grammar kicks, chasing his returning kicks with great commitment & putting pressure on the Aberdeen defence. One such kick & chase was followed by a wonderful tackle, resulting in the Grammar player knocking the ball forward. From the scrum the ball was spun quickly out to Joe Grace on the right wing who was smashed into touch by one of the Aberdeen centres.
After the resulting lineout a scrum was awarded to Grammar in the centre of the pitch on their 22-metre line. Substitute hooker Callum Foster made a lightening-quick strike & took the ball against the head, which was quickly fed out to left winger Aiden Hixson who mad a great run, spinning out of a tackle to gain ground & set the ruck up for his supporting players. The ball was immediately recycled to the left once more, where Joe Grace popped up from the opposite wing to squeeze over in the corner for the third & ultimately decisive score.
With the conversion missed Atholl now led 20-0 with 10 minutes remaining until full time. To their credit Aberdeen kept attacking when in possession, but resolute defending from every one of the Atholl team kept Grammar at bay up until two minutes to go when one of their big forwards deservedly crashed over for a try after a period of good sustained pressure.
The final score ended at 20-5 for a highly worthy Highlanders side that played with passion, commitment & immense team spirit during every minute of the match.
The young players were fantastic. To perform so well in their first Colts fixture at their age & with their limited rugby experience was truly outstanding,
The senior players were absolutely immense - not only playing at the top of their game but encouraging & inspiring the younger lads to perform at a level above anything they had previously achieved.
Joint “Men-of-The-Match” was awarded to Russell Nimmo & Gareth Walker for their great individual performances and their combined tireless work-rate & intelligent decision-making throughout the whole game both in attack & defence.