Dyce spent the days preceding the Huntly game talking up their chances to cause an upset after the reverse fixture’s tight battle back in October, although any thoughts of upsetting the form book were quickly extinguished as the green shirts of Huntly came out firing to put the game beyond the hosts by half time.

With Dyce playing downhill from the outset, the Huntly pack began by building the phases with strong ball carrying around the fringes of the ruck gaining yardage after soft Dyce tackling. A slow start by the Dyce defence saw gaps created for the Huntly backs to run into with the ball going wide and after a few more forwards phases Huntly had their first try just before the 5 minute mark. After a missed conversion and Dyce restart, a period of play in the centre of the park seemed to have shown that the Dyce defence had sharpened up as Huntly then took 15 minutes to score again. The Huntly 10 looked to be having a day to forget from the tee as after another relatively easy conversion was missed from within the 22m.

The heavy pitch caused by the previous day’s rain saw the going hard for both teams in conditions not ideally suited to expansive rugby, especially on the far side of the pitch which progressively cut up during play. The Dyce set plays held their own, with the second row combination of Graeme Lowe and Ewan Kellock proving to be a powerhouse, often putting pressure on the Huntly ball when re-starting the game.

Huntly however added two further tries within the first half and seemed to be running away with the match until Dyce sorted their act out 5 minutes before the interval. With David Hay’s kicking from hand immaculate, pressure was exerted from a penalty on half way as a punt deep into the Huntly 22m saw Dyce ramp up their efforts as the teams headed toward the half time whistle. In the last play of the first half, outside centre Shea Brown unlocked the Huntly defence, crashing through two defenders and carrying a further two over the line to score to the right of the posts. Despite the Huntly protests, the referee indicated a try. Captain David Hay missed the seemingly easy conversion and the referee blew his whistle to signify half time.

HT: Dyce RFC 5-24 Huntly RFC

Huntly again started the second half the brighter which saw Dyce gathering the ball but being turned over by a strong Huntly counter ruck. The intensity brought by the visitors saw them score two, converted, tries within the first 10 mins of the second half to all but snuff out any hopes of a Dyce revival. The strong running and offloading of green #23 kept the focus of the attack shifting, not allowing Dyce time to get set in defence. A pocket rocket winger (#14) kept the defence on its toes with mazy runs and sidesteps which took the navy jerseys of the home team some time to adjust to.

As Dyce began to find their feet mid-way thru the second half, impressive line breaks from Callum Robertson and Craig Phillips began to give the home team some much needed momentum in attack. A quick pass out to second row Graeme Lowe who then offloaded to pack leader Phil Horsfall almost got Dyce another try in the bag but the blindside flanker was held just short of the line. As the rest of the pack piled over to secure the ball, Lowe sniped from close range to get Dyce their second try, wide on left wing. Captain and stand-off David Hay managing to convert this time.

As Dyce started to get more tired Huntly ran three more tries past them, opting for a kick and chase approach to drive home their downhill advantage. Despite a spirited defensive display from Craig Philip and substitute Keir Liddle, who put the best hit of the game in on one of the big Huntly ball carriers, the home side ended up on the wrong side of a hiding, shipping five second half tries to a much deserving, mid-table Huntly side. The game came to an end after a final Dyce attack resulted in a collapsed maul in the Huntly 22m.

FT: Dyce RFC 12-59 Huntly RFC

Despite the loss, definite positives will be built upon during training in the week with the next fixture on Saturday 31st March, away at Gordonians 2nd XV with a 12:30pm Kick off at Countesswells.

We’d also like to thank the supporters who ventured out in the March sunshine to cheer us on!

#MonTheDyce