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| CAITHNESS 15 - FALKIRK 20 by Iain Grant |
| Thu 1st Feb 2007 |
The Greens fell just short on Saturday in their bid to down the colours of National League Division Two league leaders Falkirk.
They matched the visitors try for try in the cold, wet and windy conditions which prevailed at Millbank.
But after recovering from a 15 point interval deficit to draw level with their third unconverted touchdown, they lost out to a third conceded in the death throes of what was an absorbing encounter.
The final act allowed Falkirk to emerge barely deserved victors and extend their winning sequence over the Greens.
The home side kicked off up the slope and into the wind and quickly found themselves embedded deep in their own half.
If scoring tries has been a problem this season - their three previous outings having harvested just three - their unyielding defence has been a constant.
For long periods, the Greens held Falkirk at bay with an admirable work-rate and organisation on defensive chores.
This was despite an all-too-common failure to find touch with kicks which gave the visiting back three the opportunity to run the ball back from deep.
On an admittedly difficult day, full-back Richard Mackay and stand-off Blair McIntosh were guilty of over-reaching themselves in terms of distance.
The home pack were competing well both at the break-down and the line-out, where Andy Morris was a towering presence.
But the home cause was to be hamstrung by unforced errors with the kicking gremlins aggravated by basic handling mistakes.
Falkirk opened the scoring when Greens centre William Mill was pinged for not rolling away after making a tackle in front of his own posts.
Number eight Bob Wyllie kicked the penalty.
It was the prelude to a tough spell for the Greens who relieved the pressure with several opportune turnovers.
Winger Chris Harris was over the line but held up as Falkirk turned the screw.
The opening touchdown came when a textbook take-and-drive at a line-out ended with Kevin McKenzie claiming the score.
From the restart, a clever double dummy switch from visiting stand-off ended with Harris nailed at the corner flag by a cracking tackle by James ‘ Pop’ Sinclair.
The Greens’ cause was further damaged by the loss through injury of Morris.
The second Falkirk try was a carbon copy of their first with a mass shunt from a line-out again propelling McKenzie, the former Scottish hooker, over.
Wyllie added the extras to stretch the lead to 15-0.
Caithness went on to enjoy a purple patch with the visiting defence fully extended as play was switched from touchline to touchline with some deft handling and support play.
That encouraged the home fans to believe the interval deficit could be made up.
Several booming punts by McIntosh soon had the visitors scuttling back into their 22.
The Greens were now seen far more as an attacking force though the visitors continued to carry a threat on the break.
Caithness relieved pressure with a long-range Mackay clearance followed by a line-out steal.
A promising foray down the right touchline led by Evan Sutherland and James ‘Pop’ Sinclair ended with the ball going dead.
The pressure was back on Falkirk after skipper Steven Campbell charged down the re-start kick.
From the resulting line-out, the Green pack emulated their counterparts with a driven maul ending with Campbell touching down near the left-corner flag.
McIntosh’s conversion faded just under the bar.
Further infringements from an increasingly panicky Falkirk defence saw Caithness work themselves into attractive attacking positions.
A scrum in front of the posts saw the ball switched right with McIntosh piercing the defence with a grubber kick which he himself gathered at the corner to dive over.
Caithness retained the initiative into the last quarter as their opponents felt the heat.
A McIntosh punt down the right was followed up by Mill who dumped Allan Wells into touch at the corner as he tried to clear.
The five-metre line-out saw Ewen Boyd’s take cleverly switched to Evan Sutherland who fed the sweeping Tommy Sutherland.
The prop burst through the cover to register his first try of the season.
The momentum was broken when sloppy work at the restart lost possession to the visitors.
The gremlins multiplied with the concession of a couple of penalties, which crucially enabled Falkirk to take play deep into Green territory.
With Boyd sin-binned, the visitors proceeded to take advantage of a tiring and short-handed defence, with yet another driven line-out allowing McKenzie to bulldoze through for his third try of the afternoon.
Caithness would certainly not have been flattered to come away with a draw, if not a victory.
Morris’s exit was a blow though the stalwart efforts of the pack, in which Boyd and Campbell stood out, kept the Greens in the hunt throughout.
Of the three-quarters, McIntosh is doing well enough with ball in hand and made some decent half breaks.
The midfield duo of Mill and Norman Foubister is as solid as teak while James ‘Pop’ Sinclair looked lively and more like his old self on the wing.
Falkirk coach Mark McKenzie was relieved to secure the win.
"I thought it was a decent game of rugby in what were pretty poor conditions," he said.
"We got off to a good start and were fairly comfortable in the first half.
"But they came back strongly and they had us on the rack for spells after the interval.
"When they got back to 15-15 all, we were under a lot of pressure but thankfully we managed to sneak it at the end."
Greens coach Colin Sangster was left to rue a curate’s egg display by his troops.
"The bottom line is that you’re not going to beat a side like Falkirk if you just play for 20 minutes.
"There were some things we did well throughout the game, such as our open-field defence and our work at the contact point.
"But we surrendered possession on far too many occasions, especially in the first half. We just kept coughing up the ball."
Sangster was also unhappy his side failed to stick to the pre-match script when defending Falkirk attacking line-outs.
"Some of us were contesting the line-out and others were looking to drive. That made it easy for them."
Sangster was happy with a tighter, more controlled performance after the interval and he believed they should have gone on to win the game.
"We had them totally and utterly on the rack but then lost a third try right at the end after some more sloppy play."
Caithness play a re-arranged league game at home to Annan tomorrow.
Morris is doubtful after aggravating a back injury while Norman Foubister is doubtful. The game kicks off at 3 p.m.
Caithness - R. Mackay, D. Pottinger, W. Mill, N. Foubister, J. Sinclair, B. McIntosh, K. Hamilton, S. Dunnett, S. Campbell (cpt), T. Sutherland, J. Hamilton, E. Boyd, G. Sutherland, A. Morris, E. Sutherland. Replacements -
(all used) -- J. Foubister, A. Campbell and G. Anderson.
Falkirk - C. Drake, C. Harris, R. Denholm. B. Cairns, A. Wells, S. McAllister, K. Henderson, M. Dodd, K. McKenzie (cpt) , C. Reid, B. Faulds, P. Curry, D. Edge, B. Wyllie, C. MacAskill. Replacements (all used) - G. Demsey, G. Ronnie and N. Logan.
Ref: Mr G. Duncan, Ellon.
Highland moved above Caithness for the first time this season after they drubbed bottom side Duns 41-12 in Inverness.
With Annan drawing 16-16 away to Howe of Fife, promotion rivals Garnock
took advantage to move four points clear of the Borderers with a 41-3 home over Stewartry.
Linlithgow’s hopes of a step-up took a potentially fatal blow as they slumped to a 13-2 defeat at Kilmarnock.
Glasgow Accies are finishing the season as strong as any side with their 19-16 win over city rivals Allan Glen’s lifting them to fifth spot.
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| 1st XV Season (2009/10) |
| Kilmarnock 81 - 5 Caithness |
| 17th Apr 10 - KO: 12:00 |
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| :: Match Report |
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| 1st XV Season (2010/11) |
| Caithness vs Kilmarnock |
| 4th Sep 10 - KO: 15:00 |
| Venue: Millbank |
| :: More Fixtures |
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