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| CAITHNESS 24 - GARNOCK 37 by Iain Grant |
| Wed 16th May 2007 |
Caithness signed off their National League Division 2 campaign on Saturday with a gutsy display in going down to the league runners-up.
Failures to convert opportunities in the first half hamstrung the Greens' chances of pulling off an upset.
Tries either side of the interval stretched the visitors' lead to 17 points and looked to have put them firmly in control.
But they looked distinctly uncomfortable after conceding two touchdowns, which reduced the margin to five.
A try and a penalty steadied the ship for Garnock and they went on to score a fourth try to secure a bonus point before former Greens' skipper Andy Morris ran in a defiant last minute, long-range touchdown.
Both teams were short of key players for the protracted, mid-May finale to the season.
Caithness had a patchwork three-quarter division, in which Graham Fryer played on the wing despite feeling less than 100%.
Wick High's Kris Gove had his first outing at fly-half while James 'Pigeon' Sinclair was fielded in the unfamiliar role of outside centre.
Caithness enjoyed the better of the early exchanges though the first line-break came from Garnock's veteran fly-half Kirk Glen.
That triggered a move in which Kurt Jacobsen was grounded a metre from the try-line.
The visitors were punished for indiscipline with ref Alan MacLean yellow-carding hooker Graeme Reid after 13 minutes for his cynical obstruction at a ruck.
Jacobsen trooped off shortly afterwards to join his skipper in the sin-bin after the Garnock defensive line had repeatedly strayed offside.
This gave the Greens the perfect opportunity to stretch their short-handed opponents.
Morris and skipper Stevie Campbell were prominent in flurries, which took play into the Garnock 22.
From a scrum, centre William Mill made good inroads but his side contrived to pass up glaring overlaps worked first to the left flank and then to the right.
After Ranald Pottinger was grounded within touching distance of the line, Garnock were penalised at the ruck to allow Richard Mackay to open the scoring with a 24th minute penalty.
Three points was a meagre reward for the pressure on the 13 men.
The lead was cancelled out seven minutes later by Jacobsen after Caithness were deemed guilty of bringing down a maul.
With Garnock now restored to their full complement, Jacobsen was just wide with another penalty opportunity.
The home side were on the back foot when they launched an audacious attack from deep in their own half on 37 minutes.
There appeared little threat as the ball was moved laterally from right to left across the 22 metre line.
The burners were applied by teenage left winger Danny Gordon who outstripped his opponent on a break past the halfway line.
With Garnock's cover off the pace, Evan Sutherland carried on the move before Campbell handed over to prop Sinclair Dunnett who plunged over from eight yards.
The celebrations were cruelly punctured by Mr MacLean who adjudged the final pass had been forward.
Garnock took full advantage of the let-off to score 10 points in first half injury time.
They took the lead after centre Ross Miller's searing midfield break would have taken him to the line put for a pulverising tackle by Mackay.
Caithness offended at the ensuing breakdown and Jacobsen potted the simple penalty.
In the final play of the half, Miller - relishing a change from his normal role of number eight – got the luck of the bounce as he collected a chip-through 15 yards from the line.
Slick recycling from a mini-ruck after he was tackled and sure handling from Jacobsen and Reid put Ross McCann over in the right corner.
Jacobsen further tightened the screw when he landed the difficult conversion.
Garnock proceeded to forge further ahead with the first action after the turaround.
A cute short kick-off by Glen allowed McCann to exploit open territory down the swimming pool end.
He switched play inside to Jacobsen who manufactured a steepling crossfield kick to the left corner-flag.
As Dougie Inglis jumped to take the ball, he was tackled fractionally early by Fryer.
It was undoubtedly a penalty and a case could be made for a yellow card being shown to the Caithness man.
But the penalty try awarded by Mr MacLean seemed harsh.
Jacobsen again added the extras to stretch Garnock's lead to 20-3.
Back came the Greens with their feisty resistance in defence and meance in attacks rewarded with two tries.
The first came after 47 minutes when Glen's attempted clearance was charged down by Mill who ran on to scoop up the loose ball and plunge over.
Mackay converted.
Sinclair and Campbell then combined well to make good ground to relieve a period of strong pressure from the visitors.
The momentum was sustained and after 62 minutes the home support was acknowledging another try.
There was little on when Kris Hamilton gathered at the base of a ruck on the opposition 22.
An improvised chip over the top ended with the scrum-half scurrying in for an unconverted try.
That eroded Garnock's lead to five points and revived hopes that the Greens could exact full revenge from their earlier crushing defeat at the home of their Ayrshire opponents.
But the hopes were quickly dashed as the visitors regained control with their combative pack and lively three-quarters going on to dominate the remainder of the match.
After 65 minutes, McCann's break was supported by the hard-working open-side Ally Anderson who sent in Miller.
Jacobsen added the conversion and a subsequent penalty.
With Evan Sutherland yellow-carded, the Greens were again grouping behind their posts after 71 minutes following a solo effort from McCann, converted by Jacobsen.
The game was sleepwalking to a conclusion when Morris got a belated deserved reward for the Greens with a marvellous individual effort from 35 yards.
Mackay added the conversion to complete the scoring.
Garnoch coach Kenny Glen was afterwards generous in praising
Caithness for how well they responded to the earlier 71-15 reverse.
"I thought it was a good game of rugby in which both sides competed well," he said.
"I thought the young guys Caithness brought in did very well and show a lot of potential for the future."
For his part, Caithness coach Colin Sangster was happy how his troops had performed.
Problems through a host of enforced changes were added to when Fryer opted to start despite feeling under the weather.
Sangster said: "Considering what we had and the problems we had before the kick-off, I thought we did well.
"I thought Kris Gove did well in his first game at stand-off and Danny (Gordon) had some cracking runs on the wing."
The coach identified the contact area as the Achilles heel for his side on Saturday.
"The contact area was a big problem. The support players were too slow arriving while they were very good at nicking the ball and getting us penalised for holding on."
Sangster bemoans the missed opportunities of the first half and reckons three of the four tries conceded were avoidable.
He said: "Overall, I thought it was a pretty good performance against a good side."
Caithness – R. Mackay, D. Gordon, J. Sinclair, W. Mill, G. Fryer, K. Gove, K. Hamilton, S. Dunnett, S. Campbell (cpt), R. Pottinger, A. Morris, E. Boyd, G. Anderson, E. Sutherland, L. MacNicol. Replacements (all used) – J. MacMillan, R. McIntosh and G. MacLeod.
Garnock – K. Jacobsen, M. Shaw, R. Miller, R. McCann, D. Inglis, K. Glen, S. Wilson, G. Ruxton, G. Reid (cpt), J. Miller, D. McClure, J. Brocket, J. Holmes, A. Anderson, A. Brocket. Replacements (both used) – P. Cullen and R. Glen.
Ref – Mr A. MacLean, Fearn.
In the other game played on Saturday, champions Falkirk completed their campaign with a 59-10 win over Kilmarnock
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| 1st XV Season (2009/10) |
| Kilmarnock 81 - 5 Caithness |
| 17th Apr 10 - KO: 12:00 |
| Venue: Bellsland |
| :: 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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