Fine victory by rugby team

The Shetland rugby team bounced back in the best possible manner from their 129-0 hammering by league leaders Highland, with a fine victory on Saturday over Lochaber who sit one place above them in the division.

RBS Caledonia Division 2 North

Shetland 38, Lochaber 0

The home side made several changes to the squad which fell at Highland last week with only Neil Scott, John Roy Nicolson, Matthew Nicolson and Jon Pulley holding onto their places.

Harry Morton and Robert Geddes, playing for the first time at prop, scored first-half tries, one of them converted by Jon Pulley, to give the blues a 12-0 lead at the break.

A potentially serious injury to a Lochaber player seemed to affect the visiting side and Shetland began to dominate possession and territory in the second half.

Wingers Luke Cromwell and George Darrah both scored, Pulley again adding one conversion, and the 24-point lead and with it a bonus point meant the match was effectively over.

Full back Joe Casey and Matthew Nicolson added another two tries, both converted by Pulley, to give Shetland an impressive home win.

Coach Scott said he was proud of the team for bouncing back from the humiliating defeat the previous week.

“This result shows that Shetland can compete in this league and it is obvious that last week’s result was an aberration but I am delighted by the way the players stepped up and were aggressive from the kick off to put last week’s result into the past.

“We have three games to go and if we can secure two wins from those games we will end the season in fifth place which is beyond what we thought we would achieve in our first season in division two.”

The Shetland players have a week off before travelling to Stornoway for the longest trip of the season. The team will have to travel away on Thursday night and will not return until Tuesday morning as they push to climb the table at the end of the season.

• For full report, table and more photos see The Shetland Times on Friday.