Dyce Dominate Donside Derby

Report by David Hay

After the deluge of rain that fell on Friday it wasn't looking likely that the game against Shire was going to be played on the 3G pitch, however after a surprisingly positive 10 o’clock pitch inspection the decision was taken to play on the usual grass pitch. Considering the flooding round the city the night before, the pitch was in surprisingly good condition.

Dyce lost the toss and kicked off playing downhill in the first half. Straight from the first whistle the home team immediately started to apply presure and after a few phases it payed off with Dyce awarded a penalty right in front of the posts which was successfully converted. Very shortly after that Kiwi centre Johnny Brophy made his first (and unfortunately his last) tackle of the day with his head on the wrong side and left the pitch for a HIA. From there on Dyce worked well to retain possession and hit up through the forwards with clean ruck ball. The speed of play let to a transgression from the visitors resulting in another penalty on the Shire 22m. A quick tap and go from outside centre Dougie Sharp saw him score under the posts, and the conversion was made it 10-0 after 14 minutes.

Dyce carried on as before with the forwards running hard, and the ball was being shipped out to the backs where there were big overlaps but the last pass wasn't quite there. Keiran Esson was on the receiving end of some big hits on the wing, being stuffed into touch on several occasions; a lesson on keeping hold of the ball in the tackle wasn’t heeded until the third time of asking. Dyce continued to target the wider channels however it wasn’t until the 26th minute when Rory Shepherd cut through the defence in the 13-14 channel and scored a five ponter to the left of the posts. The passes then started to stick the pre-game plan to exploit the space on the flanks and move the ball wide yielded further scores; Duncan Scott went over in 32nd minute, conversion was made, followed by Jack Gray playing at full back for a change getting his first of the afternoon and the try bonus point on the stroke of half time.

HT: Dyce RFC 27-0 Aberdeenshire RFC 2XV

The second half got under way and with the backs getting all the points on the board in the first half, the forwards decided to get in on the action straight from the off with Cameron Moore touching down 3 minutes after half time. Conversion missed by David Hay.
Despite the injuries hampering the visiting team, their resolve saw them force more competition at the breakdown with fierce counter-rucking, stifling the Dyce attack. With scrums uncontested, the Dyce backs were fed with quick ball to carve through the Shire defensive line with several clean line breaks making big gains each time.

Dyce continued to play expansive rugby and capitalise on the overlaps out wide. Substitute and debutant Richie Irvine held his width in the 15m channel and was on the end of a well worked attacking move to score his first of the afternoon just after the 60th minute. Conversion missed from out wide.

Following the restart the home team wasted no time regained the kick off and sending some big runners into contact with a series of off loads making more yards. With a numerical advantage, the Dyce backs spun it wide to full back Jack Gray to touch down for his second of the afternoon. Conversion David Hay.

Not to be out done, the last try of the afternoon was touched down by Richie Irvine after the ball was hacked through. Being the quickest to react, he chased hard from his outside centre position and got the ball down across the whitewash in the 73 minute. The simple conversion from David Hay made it 5 from 9 from the tee.

The visiting Shire contingent battled to the end in difficult circumstances, but failed to exploit the downslope advantage and their kicking game to their benefit in the second half.

FT: Dyce RFC 51-0 Aberdeenshire RFC 2XV

MotM: Jack Gray
DotD: David Hay

Photos from Aberdeenshire's James Livingstone can be found here

A full 5 pointer leaves Dyce sitting in mid-table on 7 points from 4 games, sandwiched between Inverness Craig Dunain RFC above (8 points from 4 matches), and Fraserburgh RFC below (5 points from 3 matches).

For the full table, see the SRU’s website here: https://www.scottishrugby.org/fixtures-and-results/club-rugby/competition?comp=646#table

An improved performance over all but items still remain to work on at training. A month long break sees us take on Caley 4 North league contenders Ellon Rugby 2XV at home on Saturday 23rd November.

In the meantime, enjoy the RWC closing stages. You can catch the Final on Saturday 2nd November with us at The New Greentrees

#MTD