Agony as Gordonians and Moray narrowly miss out on Murrayfield

The Caledonia rugby area will have no representatives in the national finals at Murray field on April 22 after Gordonians and Moray were beaten in the semifinals of the shield and bowl respectively.

Both sides gave good accounts of themselves, with Gordonians going agonisingly close as they conceded a last-gasp try in a 29-26 defeat by Murrayfield Wanderers at Countess well sand Moray losing 17-11 to Portobello at Elgin.

Gordonians president Jim Sugden said: “I am gutted for the guys who fought back from 22-14 down at half-time to lead 26-22 going into the last play of a great game of rugby. We’ll just need to console ourselves by wrapping up the Caledonia 1 title next week when we meet Caithness at Countesswells.”

Moray secretary Graham Stables said: “We won plenty of good ball but our accuracy wasn’t quite there. We were punished on a couple of occasions when we attacked, losing ball to concede points.

“We went out to a very good East Division 2 side after taking the lead through an Andrew McBean penalty but then lost three tries to trail 17-3. We rallied before half-time with a try from Lewis Small and another McBean penalty.

“It was a tight second half in which we came close but failed to score.

“We are disappointed to lose out on the opportunity to go to Murrayfield but will now concentrate on Caley 2 North.”

In Caley 1, Caithness closed the gap to five points on leaders Gordonians, setting up a title decider in Aberdeen on Saturday after beating relegated Mackie FPs 44-28 at Redcloak.

Harris FPs beat Aberdeen Wanderers 21-10.

In Caley 2 North, Banff took over at the top after easing past Highland 2nds 39-12 at Duff House. RAF Lossiemouth beat Aberdeen Grammar 2nds 60-5.

In the top-of-the-table match in Caley 3 North, Aberdeen University Medics moved into pole position after a 34-13 win at home to North Scotland Police.

Aberdeen University now look to be the biggest threat to the Medics after beating Huntly 48-13 at Market Muir.