Mackie travelled South for their first round fixture of the Caledonia Shield competition. Mackie got off to the perfect start with tries from Macey Macgregor and Adams seeing them quickly gain a 15 point lead in the early stages of the match.

Unfortunately a bit of complacency settled in and Mackie soon found themselves on the back foot with some poor defending meaning they found themselves 17-15 down at half time.

It didn’t take Mackie long to find their feet again in the 2nd, regaining the lead when Rhind scored Mackie’s 4th try of the game to make it 17-20. Again, defensive ill discipline, shortly after the try saw Kinross score another converted try to take the score to 24-20. Mackie finally started to find a bit of rhythm mid way through the second half and Macey and Inglis found their way over the white wash followed by two well executed conversions by M.Kelly to give Mackie a 34-24 lead.

Having gained a bit of momentum Mackie decided to test their resolve yet again with Hunter and MacArthur finding themselves in the sin bin in quick succession and the side to down to 13 men.

The 13 man defence was resilient and remained un broken but shortly after the players returned Kinross snuck through to take the score to 34-31 keeping the tie within touching distance and only 15 minutes to go.

Mackie managed not to panic and created a bit of breathing space, getting another converted try through Adams. With full time fast approaching, Kinross remained defiant and once again came knocking at the door and Mackie duly answered. Kinross converted their try and took the tie to within 3 points for the remaining minutes of the game. Thankfully throughout this period Mackie’s defence held strong and the team were rewarded with hard earned victory!

Thankyou Kinross for the game and we wish you all the best for the rest of the season.

Try Scorers
Macey x2
Adams x2
Macgregor
Rhind
Inglis

MOTM - Finlay Wynne

Kieran Dyer, Mackie RFC 1st XV Team

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