Grammar unable to see off Edinburgh Accies

ABERDEEN Grammar might just wonder why they lost a game in which they had started so brightly, but ultimately achieved so little against an Edinburgh Accies side who were better organised, and much better keepers of their own ball.

Scorers: Edinburgh Accies – Tries: Preece, Aloe. Cons: Aloe (2). Pen: Ryan. Edin Accies – Tries: Godsmark, Findlater. Con: Bonner. Pens: Bonner (2).

Referee: A McMenemey.

Accies assistant coach Malcolm McVey probably summed it up best when he said: ‘’By the end of the afternoon we were playing the kind of game that suits us in the right parts of the pitch.’’ Grammar were unable to meet this basic criteria.

Grammar had a dream start, sweeping the ball wide from the kick off for No 8 Tom Preece to mark his home debut from the resultant lineout.

When stand off Rob Aloe kicked the conversion from out wide there was a buzz of expectation from the Rubislaw crowd.

But Acies centre Ruairidh Bonner kicked an easy penalty in 12 minutes, interrupted by a home score from Aloe who cashed in on a poor clearance to score a try that he also converted, before the Raeburn Place side took over the proceedings in the second half.

Playing with a strong wind in their favour, Accies soon made inroads into the 14-3 deficit when winger Nyle Godsmark danced past a non-existent home defence to score, and with Bonner kicking the conversion, followed quickly by a successful penalty it was the visitors who were looking the most likely to claim the victory. A second try for Accies came from another home mix up, enabling ­replacement lock Andrew ­Findlater to score.

A penalty from replacement full-back Mark Ryan came too late for a home rally.

The Accies half-back pairing of Alex Blair and Alex Black ­provided the vital edge in a ­generally even game, though the Edinburgh side were defensively the stronger.

Aberdeen Grammar: W Wardlaw; A Rennie, H Duthie, P Nacamavatu, C Gordon; R Aloe, M Ward; M Dixon, S Bingham, S Cessford, E Nimmons, J Metcalfe, G Ryan (c), T McGinness, T Preece. Subs used: S O’Connor, M Schosser, R Cessford, M Ryan, L Earle-Wright.

Edinburgh Accies: J Sole; J Farndale, E Campbell, R Bonner, N Godsmark; A Blair, A Black; M Campbell, M Liness, P Cringle, G Campbell (c), J McCarthy, N Aitken, T Drennan, R Snape. Subs used: D Bates, F Rawlinson, A Findlater, M Campbell, S Pecquer.