Moray Rugby Club narrowly beaten by Strathmore in opening Arnold Clark National League Division 4 match in Forfar

Moray Rugby Club’s first match in the Arnold Clark National League Division 4 ended in a narrow defeat.

Following successive promotions from the Caledonia leagues, the Elgin side will travel the length and breadth of the country this season and their first league fixture involved their shortest trip.

They travelled to Forfar to play Strathmore and went down to a 33-26 loss.

The match was again played in unseasonably warm weather and early exchanges saw the visitors attempt to stretch their opponents’ big, heavy forward pack although it was the home side’s number 4 who eventually broke the deadlock in the 18th minute when he barged over for a converted try and a 7-0 lead.

Moray responded well and three minutes later following a number of unsuccessful forays kicked a penalty into their opponents 22. With the ball secured and driven, scrum-half Cameron Ireland broke blind and scored out wide. Fullback Rory Millar made no mistake with the tricky conversion for 7-7.

Although at times the visitors’ forwards were up against it in the set-piece the backs were testing Strathmore’s defence. On the 30 minute mark a speculative kick ahead by wing Connor McWilliam was chased aggressively by ‘veteran’ forward Marc Higgins. The unpredictable bounce of the rugby ball bamboozled the defenders but allowed the hooker to cross the try line and touch down for a converted try and a seven-point lead.

Finding themselves behind on the score board reinvigorated the home side who ran in two tries at the end of the first half. One of these was converted for a half time score of 19-14.