The pleasant mid-day sunshine had only partially thawed the overnight frost on the main Rubislaw pitch, so play was switched to an adjacent area with a better covering of grass. Aberdeen’s season has been badly disrupted by injury and the Covid virus, but to their credit they had made every effort to fulfil the Currie fixture. Their team contained a number of inexperienced players, plus a borrowed Orcadian prop who was literally ferried in for the occasion.

A group of Malleny regulars had made the long trip north for what had proved to be a rather difficult venue in some years past. However, Currie were quick to exert their authority, and a couple of dominant scrums soon had Aberdeen under pressure. The home team defended the first few assaults well, but it was quite obvious that before too long their stretched resources would crack. Within 18 minutes the Chieftains had secured the four try bonus point with scores from Charlie Brett, Gregor Hunter, Adam Hall and Rhys Davies. Unfortunately both Adam Hall and Gregor Hunter had to retire with serious looking injuries during this opening salvo.

Even when Aberdeen did manage a fleeting visit beyond the halfway line, their poor handling surrendered the ball, or they were turned over by DJ Innis or Gregor Nelson, and another scoring attack piled more agony on to a team who could not live with the pace and precision of their visitors. A yellow card just added to Aberdeen’s misery, and by halftime the one-way traffic had accumulated more tries through Wallace Nelson, Cairn Ramsey and Ryan Stewart to give the Chieftains a massive 47 points lead.  

‍Halftime score – Aberdeen 0 pts v Currie Chieftains 47 pts.

The second half did not see a lot of change, although after Ryan Stewart’s early try, Aberdeen managed to halt the procession to their line, and for nearly 15 minutes there was no further scoring. Ironically it was the home team who then got the electronic scoreboard working again; a high ball under the glaring sun caused some indecision, and Aberdeen made the most of their opportunity. The try was not converted but it gave the Rubislaw camp some reward for their undoubted resolve to make the visitors work hard for any further scores; which it did.

With twenty minutes remaining, the Chieftains blitzed Aberdeen’s defence with festival-style rugby which had the beleaguered opposition chasing shadows. The ball whizzed across the pitch with lightning speed and accuracy; the backing up was tremendous and inevitably produced tries for Wallace Nelson, Ryan Southern, Cairn Ramsey, Rhys Davies and Hamish Ferguson. 10 of the 13 scores were converted by Gregor Hunter (2), Jamie Forbes (7) and Charlie Brett (1).

To their credit, Aberdeen never stopped trying to move the ball, but they were always under pressure and their speedy runners were well policed by Cammy Meager, Cameron Lessels and Paddy Boyer. The powerful aggressive running of David Innis takes some stopping and the Currie heavy lifters, Ewan Stewart, AP McWilliam and Codie Roman all played their part and kept focused. There does appear to be that ‘killer’ instinct in the Chieftains’ game, and this will be required if they are to lift trophies at the end of the season!

‍Full-time Score – Aberdeen Grammar Rugby 5 pts (t 1) v Currie Chieftains 85 Pts (t 13, c 10)

I.J.S. – 23.1.22.

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