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| HIGHLAND 53 - CAITHNESS 13 by Iain Grant |
| Thu 11th Oct 2007 |
The Greens’ run of away day reverses hit a new low with Saturday’s traumatic eight tries-to-one defeat at the hands of their north rivals on Saturday.
Adding to the woes of a side now just five points off the bottom of the Scottish Hydro Electric National League Division 2 was a fractured cheek-bone incurred by vice-captain Stevie Campbell.
His enforced absence deepens the player crisis with which coach Jim MacMillan is having to grapple.
The expected return of a clutch of experienced campaigners did not materialise for the trip to Canal Park.
Instead, the back division again featured new combinations at half-back, in the midfield and in the back three.
Only the front row remained intact from the previous week’s outing with MacMillan accompanied on the bench by debutant Hamish Coghill and a less-than-fully fit Kris Gove.
They faced a Highland side not short on confidence after their runaway win in Grangemouth the previous week.
It was however the Greens who made the more impressive start with the combative Campbell – relishing his return to the back row – and Evan Sutherland prominent.
The strong start was rewarded when Blair McIntosh potted a 12th minute penalty after a concerted spell of pressure ended with a Highland player straying offside.
The slide began with Campbell’s exit with an injury which is likely to sideline him for up to six weeks.
Patrick Boyar levelled with a penalty and the home side forged ahead midway through the half with a well-taken try from full-back Morris Dillon.
A second try for flanker Derek MacDonald, converted by Craig Little, put Highland 15-3 up.
McIntosh hit back with a penalty but the city men responded with an unconverted try from young winger Craig Findlater three minutes from the interval.
While the Greens were competitive before the interval, they let their standards slip and were very much on the back foot thereafter.
Number eight Kenny Cameron touched down soon after the restart.
Boyar added a penalty and Highland went on to regularly create openings for their zippy back division.
The Greens’ cause was not helped by Sutherland’s sin-binning.
Dillon crossed twice more either side of tries for ex-Wick High stand-off Jonathan Wylie and winger Little.
Boyar converted three and centre Tam McGowan one.
The visitors had the consolation of ending the scoring thanks to a defiant surge in the last 10 minutes.
A break ended with skipper Ewen Boyd’s pass taking out the last defender to allow Graeme Ross to race clear for a try, which McIntosh converted.
That left coach MacMillan to reflect on a match which Highland dominated apart from the opening and closing quarters.
He said: “Early on, we had a fair bit of the play and were looking pretty good.
“Unfortunately we always looked fragile when they ran the ball. As soon as their backs got space out wide, we were in trouble."
The coach said Campbell’s departure was a big blow.
The coach was again disappointed by the standard of defending in the run-up to most of the tries his side lost.
“We made some real, basic errors which made it all too easy for them. Some of our defending was really sloppy.”
MacMillan drew solace from his side’s strong finish to the game.
His opposite number Hugh Mackintosh said afterwards: “It was a good win for us but we had to work very, very hard for it.
“The boys knew they were in a game and were all suffering from a variety of bumps and bruises at training this week
“I think Caithness can take a lot out of the game as there was not much between us in the setpiece and they were the better team in the contact area.
“We have a decent set of backs and they had a very good day.”
Caithness have to regroup for a second successive away trip.
MacMillan said the shortage of players is reaching chronic proportions.
He said: “I thought we would have strengthened for the trip to Highland but we ended up worse off than we were the previous week.”
In addition to Campbell – who was due to have an operation to reset his cheek-bone yesterday – scrum-half Kris Hamilton and hooker Sinclair Dunnett will be missing.
On the plus side, Andy Morris and Steve Duval should return to the squad and there is a chance student James Paterson will be available.
MacMillan said: “Grangemouth have been struggling and this is a game we’d have been targeting to win but with the problems we have, I’m just trying to get a squad together to make the trip.”
Caithness: R. Mackay, G. Ross, S. McIntosh, J. Sinclair, G. Mackay,
B. McIntosh, K. Hamilton, D. Lewis-Saunders, S. Dunnett, R. Pottinger, E. Boyd (cpt.), G. Anderson, D. Gordon, E. Sutherland, S. Campbell.
Replacements – (all used) – K. Gove, H. Coghill and J. MacMillan.
Howe of Fife are the new league leaders after their 20-0 away win over Glasgow Accies allowed them to leapfrog Forrester. The Edinburgh side’s 100% record was ended when they went down 14-8 in Kilmarnock.
It’s getting more congested at the bottom of the league as a result of Stewartry’s 19-5 success over Grangemouth.
Though not enough to take them off bottom spot, Stewartry’s first win means they are now only five points shy of Caithness.
In the other matches, Dumfries scraped home 15-14 versus Newton Stewart while Linlithgow won 29-24 at Allan Glens.
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| 1st XV Season (2010/11) |
| Caithness 25 - 27 Kilmarnock |
| 4th Sep 10 - KO: 15:00 |
| Venue: Millbank |
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| 1st XV Season (2010/11) |
| Stewartry vs Caithness |
| 11th Sep 10 - KO: 15:00 |
| Venue: Greenlaw |
| :: More Fixtures |
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