But, on this occasion, the hosts won a very close contest 32-28 in front of a good crowd of supporters at Scone Park.

Aberdeen's Tyler Le Prince Campbell opened the scoring early when a costly defensive error saw the visitors take the lead 4-0.

Mistakes were to be a common occurrence throughout the match.

And, the Thoroughbreds made the most of a Tiger error soon after the restart, which allowed Michael Radford to capitalise on some good earlier work by John Johnson near the line. Jake Watts converted for Scone to hit the front 6-4.

The pressure was back on when the home team found another mistake on the first set and Harry Douglass crossed out wide. Hayden Bell added the extras as the Tigers regained the advantage at 10-6.

Jarrod Wicks was next to cross following a loose ball from an opposition scrum. Wicks converted for Scone to jump ahead 12-10.

With 10 minutes left in the period, Watts put up a high ball on the last tackle and the ever-reliable Tim Smith flew to regather and touch down without any defence to contend with.

Although Watts missed the kick, the Thoroughbreds led 16-10.

Scone quickly made the most of an Aberdeen sin bin, which saw Ronin Hadden cross and Watts convert from the sideline for a 22-14 scoreline.

The Tigers were quick to respond however.

Hamish Wolfgang found a way to cross the line to narrow the gap at the break to 20-14.

The second half saw Aberdeen score after 10 minutes with le Prince Campbell snaring his second. Bell converted and the margin was reduced to 22-20.

The struggle continued, but it was the Tigers who took the lead 24- 22 when Wolfgang snared a double, carrying a couple of defenders with him.

Scone spectators' nerves were settled somewhat when Ryan Hawkshaw outpaced the defence and crossed for a try, following a skilful tap on pass from Nick Watson.

Watts missed the conversion but the lead was back with Scone 26-24.

Watts was always in the game and a 40:20 kick was the catalyst for the Thoroughbreds to mount more pressure.

Isaac Austin dived over with 10 minutes left on the clock.

Watts' conversion increased the advantage to 32-24.

Aberdeen continued to play strongly and Douglass scored after Scone lost possession near their line.

The conversion went astray and the defending premiers managed to hold for the last five minutes to win 32-28.

Scone coach Aaron Watts was pleased with the victory.

However, he was less than happy with the amount of errors in the game.

"I won't use different team line up as an excuse," he said.

"Aberdeen's team was also quite different to the last time we played.

"We needed more composure at times and will learn a lot from today's match."

The reserve grade fixture was a very tight affair throughout.

The two evenly-matched sides couldn't be split at the final bell with a 22-22 scoreline.

The lead switched several times in the opening half, with Josh Noble first to score and Jack Thomas converted for 6-0.

Aberdeen crossed and converted soon after to level it up at 6-all.

Griffin Miller was next to touch down for the Thoroughbreds and Thomas added the extras for 12-6.

Aberdeen scored twice in the last 10 minutes to have the edge at the interval, 16-12.

More of the same occurred in the second half with an early try to Codie McCarthy and conversion by Thomas giving Scone the lead 18-16.

Aberdeen responded with its own converted try to hit the front again.

Then Jessie Schumaker crossed for the home team, levelling the scores at 22-all.

Thomas hit the posts and the conversion was waved away.

Coach Jade Smith was optimistic with the performance.

"That was a game of two closely-matched teams and we knew it would be tough," he said.

"And, it was.

"We probably had our chances but I was happy to hold them to a draw.

"We can improve on that effort."

The under-18s expected a close match.

However, the young Thoroughbreds put on their best performance of the season and had a strong 24-0 victory.

Unfortunately, the match was delayed for a period of time due to a serious knee injury to one of the Aberdeen players and all pass on their best wishes in this regard.

There wasn't too much in the first half with tries to Alex Dahmes and Ed Roser prior to the injury providing a 12-0 lead, thanks to Jack Pennell converting both.

Scone maintained its form for the second half which saw tries to Richard Riley and Matt Saunders.

Pennell had his kicking boots on and made the most of the opportunities for the final 24-0 scoreline.

Coach Chris Brennan was very pleased with the efforts of his young team.

"We turned up today with the right attitude and produced our best performance," he said.

"We can push any team in this competition but we have to be consistent and display this sort of effort each week."

The league tag was somewhat one-way traffic with Scone leading 30-0 at the break and eventually winning 44-0.

Highlight of the first half was a four-try effort from Nicky Schliffke who kept finding herself in the right place at the right time and making the most of the opportunity.

Isabella Wright and Rebecca Hill also crossed in the first session with Georgia Watts adding three conversions.

Credit to the Aberdeen team who improved its defensive effort in the second period and made the Scone team work hard for the three tries that Celie Nolan, Wright (her second) and Sofie Casson scored. G

Watts converted one for the final scoreline of 44-0.

Coach Sofie Casson was pleased with the triumph.

"We had some really good backline movements today and I was happy with the variations that we came up," she said.

"Also, it was a great defensive effort, which is just as important."

First grade -

Scone defeated Aberdeen 32-28

Singleton defeated Denman 38-16

Reserve grade -

Muswellbrook defeated Murrurundi 32-20

Greta Branxton defeated Denman 28-6

Scone drew with Aberdeen 22-all

Singleton d Merriwa 20-16

Under-18s -

Scone defeated Aberdeen 24-0

Singleton defeated Muswellbrook 42-10

League tag -

Murrurundi defeated Muswellbrook 14-4

Scone defeated Aberdeen 44-0

Merriwa defeated Singleton 22-0

First grade: Scone 14, Aberdeen 6, Singleton 4, Denman 4

Reserve grade: Merriwa 14, Scone 11, Singleton 10, Aberdeen 9, Muswellbrook 8, Greta Branxton 2, Murrurundi 0, Denman 0

Under-18s: Singleton 14, Aberdeen 8, Scone 8, Muswellbrook 8, Denman 2

League tag: Scone 14, Merriwa 11, Murrurundi 10, Muswellbrook 8, Singleton 5, Aberdeen 4, Denman 2

Saturday, June 22 -

(at Denman)

1pm: league tag, Denman v Scone

2pm: under-18s, Denman v Scone

3.10pm: reserve grade, Denman v Scone

4.40pm: first grade, Denman v Scone

(at Murrurundi)

3pm: reserve grade, Murrurundi v Greta Branxton

Sunday, June 23 -

(at Aberdeen)

10.20am: league tag, Aberdeen v Singleton

11.20am: under-18s, Aberdeen v Singleton

12.30pm: reserve grade, Aberdeen v Singleton

2pm: first grade, Aberdeen v Singleton

(at Muswellbrook)

11.30am: league tag, Muswellbrook v Merriwa

12.30pm: reserve grade, Muswellbrook v Merriwa