On a Sunday when the whole of the Stewartry was frozen, the sunshine of the Costa del Stranraer was somehow enough to defrost the pitches just enough to provide an excellent playing surface.
The Shire had a large squad drawn from two clubs and the Stewartry players knew enough about many of the opposition to know that it was going to be tough.
That proved to be the case, Shire scoring two tries easily and early against a rather shambolic Stewartry defence.
This did, however, seem to galvanise the Stewartry players and by half time the deficit had been clawed back.
Some direct running by Crawford Broatch and Daniel Eakin Watt had set up a position close to the Shire line from which Arthur Bolland powered his way over.
Similar bludgeoning approach play from Lucas Swalwell and Will Cawthorne allowed Angus Bryson to glide in on the left after some quick short passes.
From the second half kick-off, Shire received the ball, stepped though a faltering Stewartry defence and made 70m before Eakin Watt heroically hauled their player down inches from the line. From the subsequent scrum Shire scored easily on the right only for Stewartry to work their way downfield from the restart.
Oliver Jack got close on the right and from the quick ruck Eakin Watt wriggled through a packed defence to score. Both sides then traded tries with Moray Robertson scoring for Stewartry, tidying up after a well worked Stewartry move broke down.
Going into the last few minutes Stewartry were ahead - only for Shire to force themselves back into the match. Despite heroic covering tackles from Fraser Davies, Shire engineered an overlap from which their talented No 12 scored.
Stewartry looked tired and out of ideas but somehow found the energy to chase the kick-off hard, regain the ball and set up a series of rucks in the Shire 22.
Seamus Munday, Matthew Hunter and Angus Valentine all had a go only to be repelled by stout defending.
Finally, the ball came back out of a ruck and some slick passes got the ball to Preston Carnochan who went on a huge arcing run and found space outside on the far left.
Two very evenly matched teams, seven changes of the lead and a last minute finale all made for a great spectacle for those who braved the cold.
