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| CAITHNESS 17 - HIGHLAND 5 by Iain Grant |
| Thu 22nd Sep 2005 |
 Caithness continued their impressive start to the new campaign with a three-tries-to-one victory in this north derby on Saturday.
It leaves them as the only unbeaten side in BT National League Division 3 though it will be a month or so before the true pecking order will be established.
A searching test of the leaders' credentials will come over the next three weeks when they face three away games on the trot -- two in the league and one in the Scottish Cup.
Both sides were missing several key performers at a windswept Millbank on Saturday for what was the first ever league clash between the sides.
Highland's absent regular hooker and tight head helped the home side establish an early decided edge or rather nudge in the set scrums which was to prevail throughout the afternoon.
Members of the Caithness pack also made good early inroads on the hoof with number eight Andrew Sangster and prop John Foubister taking the eye with some yard-guzzling forays.
The home side had spurned the possibility of exploiting an overlap with a rogue pass before drawing ahead on 12 minutes.
Blair McIntosh, making his first start at fly-half, charged down an attempted clearance kick from his opposite number Paul Schofield and showed good footballing skills before touching down under the shadow of the posts.
McIntosh himself added the extra points.
Schofield sliced a drop kick attempt before Craig Little was wide with a penalty awarded for a Caithness player handling in a ruck.
The Greens responded with a marvellous surge, spearheaded by skipper William Mill and George Sutherland, which deserved but did not get any reward.
Highland were being outgunned up front with their go-forward opportunities restricted by a mis-firing line-out and a scrum in reverse gear.
The visitors have several very useful runners, including centre Epi Vucaicea, but their bid to move the ball wide was regularly thwarted by the Greens' attritional rush defence in midfield.
It proved a frustrating day for Vucaicea and his fellow flying Fijians, who are members of the First Battalion of the Royal Irish regiment based at Fort George.
The visiting three-quarters scored with the one bit of genuine, quality ball they had to work with.
A rolling maul down the left side of the tennis court end got up a head of steam to bring play close to the home line before the ball was spun across the breadth of the park to give Zak Rinokuia an easy run-in.
Little missed the conversion.
McIntosh featured with some excellent punts and touch-finds and his side should have gone in at the interval more comfortably ahead.
Three minutes from the interval, a searing break from Duncan Sangster created an extra man for his side but wing Jamie Sinclair could not hold what should have been the money pass with the unguarded line beckoning.
A fine pick-up and break from full-back Jamie Begg was then carried on by Duncan Sangster who was barged into touch near the right touch-flag.
Caithness used the advantage of the conditions after the interval to set about securing victory.
Too often, good build-up play to create attacking platforms was undone by silly errors which allowed the visitors to clear their lines.
Highland tried to force their way back and had Caithness on the back foot for a testing 10 minute spell which they should have converted into points.
The pressure ended when Little opted to kick ahead rather than capitalise on a clear numerical advantage developing to his left.
Begg made a comfortable mark to clear what proved his side's last time in their own 22.
Caithness finished off their opponents and at the same time denied them a losing bonus point with two tries in the last seven minutes.
A classic take-and drive from a line-out was the prelude to Duncan Sangster jinking inside his man to go over.
The straightforward conversion as missed by James Mill to keep the city side within seven points.
Another scoring opportunity was missed when Russell Mill intercepted and would have put Sinclair away had the winger been able to hold his pass.
The safety score came in the last minute when Schofield's miserable day was capped when he had another kick charged down and Duncan Sangster raced in to grab his fifth try of the campaign.
McIntosh was wide with the conversion.
A deserved for the Greens though failures to convert opportunities in future matches could man the difference between winning and losing.
The pack can take a collective bow with Andrew Sangster the pick of a dynamic back row and David Pottinger making an excellent job of filling the number 2 jersey.
After the criticism of the ref in the Greens' outing in Glenrothes, it would be unfair not to commend Welsh whistler Mark Williams' display on Saturday
The Turriff-based ref helped the game flow though he perhaps was unduly lenient in not sin-binning Greens' prop Roddie Gray for a right hook he threw during a second half dust-up.
Highland coach Brian Irvine had no complaints in defeat.
He said: "I thought Caithness dealt with the conditions better than we did.
"We had a good spell early in the second half when had we scored, I felt we could have gone on to win the match.
"Caithness are a strong side and there will be a lot of teams that come here and struggle to come away with anything."
Greens coach Colin Sangster was pleased to get another win under the belt.
He said: "Our defence was again outstanding and our forwards are setting pretty good platforms.
"The one area which was disappointing was our ability to finish off good scoring opportunities.
"We had three or four clear chances on Saturday which we didn't take -- we've just not been clinical enough."
Tonight, the Greens set out on their long haul to play Helensburgh.
Captain Andy Morris returns to resume at lock while Stevie Campbell is back to take over from Pottinger, who is unavailable for tomorrow's match.
There are changes in the back division with Graham Fryer likely to start on the wing at the expense of James Mill while Richard Mackay is promoted to join the squad.
Caithness -- J. Begg, J. Sinclair, R. Mill, D. Sangster, J. Mill, B. McIntosh, W. Mill (cpt), J. MacMillan, D. Pottinger, J. Foubister, E. Boyd, J. Hamilton, E. Sutherland, A. Sangster, G. Sutherland.
Replacements (all used) -- G. Fryer, R. Gray and L. MacNicol.
Highland -- Z. Rinokuia, S. Ugavula, D. Buxton, E. Vucaicea, G. Munro, P. Schofield, C. Little, A. Beattie, G. Fraser (cpt), A. Ewan, K. Locke, G. MacDonald, P. Miller, K. Cameron, E. Ferguson,
Replacements -- G. High, S. McPherson and A. Shaw.
Ref -- Mr M. Williams, Turriff.
Falkirk climbed to joint second in the table after a hard-earned 32-24 victory at previously unbeaten Newton Stewart.
Hawick YM and Whitecraigs both got their first wins.
The Borders side defeated Glenrothes 20-5 while Whitecraigs edged out Helensburgh 8-3.
Lismore meanwhile took the honours in the Edinburgh derby, defeating city rivals Trinity Accies 30-9.
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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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