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| FORRESTER 17 - 22 CAITHNESS by Iain Grant |
| Fri 10th Oct 2008 |
Harvesting maximum points from consecutive fixtures home and away has seldom been achieved by the Greens in their National League rugby career. Completing the feat in Edinburgh on Saturday helped nudge them into the top half of the Scottish Hydro Electric NLD2, as well as providing them with their first win on their travels this season.
Managing to prevail in what proved a topsy-turvy encounter at Forrester also bolsters a fragile club morale. A flat pre-season and the loss of a cadre of seasoned campaigners had made the most ardent Caithness supporter fear for what lay ahead at the start of this campaign. But Jim MacMillan’s men have battled against the odds to notch up four wins in their opening six outings.
The average return of three points per match would have exceeded the most optimistic predictions.
A win over strugglers Stewartry at Millbank tomorrow would move the Greens on to the fringe of the promotion race. Supporters should, however, appreciate that the club’s toughest opponents in the league have yet to be faced.
A major handicap for the Greens is their battle to pull together a squad to travel. On Saturday, they again were forced to call on the services of exiles to put a side on the park.
Edinburgh-based Andrew Sangster, who has been turning out for Premiership side Peebles, was hastily registered to play, while fellow Wicker James Hamilton also answered a call to arms from his home in Aberdeen. A guest player was also commandeered to keep MacMillan company on the bench.
Sangster reclaimed his number eight jersey, with Evan Sutherland moving to open-side to accommodate him. Hamilton joined skipper Ewen Boyd in the second row while MacMillan persevered with his now-favoured half-back partnership of Graham Fryer and Kris Hamilton.
The force early on was decidedly with the home side, who are this year coached by former Green and Boroughmuir captain Andy Knight.
The home side missed a golden chance to forge in front when centre Shaun Edmondson should have scored on an arcing run he made for a corner flag had he not cut back and been enveloped by a cover tackle.
The pressure paid off when a series of mini-rucks ended with flanker Ross Davidson cutting a clever angle to go over for a try, converted by Edmondson.
Caithness gradually started to impose themselves with their units functioning much better than in the previous week’s harum-scarum win over Hillfoots.
Sangster, Sutherland and centres Danny Gordon and James Sinclair were also prominent with some piercing line breaks. upturn was rewarded with a try when a chip-kick following a scrum was chased, gathered and carried over by Sangster.
Before half-time, Sutherland capitalised on some slack tackling as he crashed over to put the Greens 10-7 ahead.
Forrester resumed their former control after the resumption and centre Stuart Broadfoot blazed his way over after the visiting defence was still regrouping following several mini-rucks.
Back came Caithness as Sangster brushed off two would-be tackles before the ball was played through the back division with Sinclair giving a clear run-in for Keith Foubister to go over for his debut try.
The Greens led 15-12 but there were still 20 minutes left and, unlike their opponents, they lacked the resources of a full squad.
Forrester continued to run into steely resistance with one bone-shuddering tackle from full-back Gary Mackay particularly memorable.
Some breathing space was afforded by a further score, which was down to the athleticism and eye-for-the-gap of Hamilton who scorched his way to the line for yet another long-distance solo effort.
Mackay’s first conversion of the day stretched the lead to 10 points.
The game could have been made safe for the Greens shortly afterwards. A highly promising attack was aborted when Hamilton’s pass was intercepted.
With all the visitors in attacking mode, there was no-one between Forrester stand-off Craig Panther and the try-line as he set off from his own half.
With no support on hand, it was a straight foot race between Panther and his two foremost pursuers, Danny Gordon and Hamilton. Gordon won the race just inside the Caithness 22 and felled him while Hamilton proceeded to strip the ball and launch a counter.
With 15 minutes left, a score then could have turned the game the home side’s way, especially as Knight had by then entered the fray and made a sizeable impact.
As it was, the Greens defence held firm until the final minute when Knight directed traffic from a ruck down the under-defended blind side.
Craig Panther provided the link to send replacement prop Nicky Drew over for an unconverted try.
Coach MacMillan believed his side got the reward for the effort they put in. He said: “They did have a strong start but there was no great panic as we were never that far away from them. We always looked lively in attack and all our tries were well taken.
“It was a tremendous effort, especially as we again had to make do with a very thin squad. It was a much, much better all-round team performance from the Hillfoots game.”
Knight has taken over the coaching reins at Forrester after a very successful 18-year playing career at Boroughmuir during which he won four national cups and a league title.
The 36-year-old, who learned his rugby at Thurso High, also played for invitation teams Scottish Co-Optimists and Scottish Legends as well as representing Scotland at rugby league. He emerged bitterly disappointed on Saturday at losing to his first senior club.
Knight believed Gordon’s downing of Panther was a crucial turning point. He said: “Had we scored then, I think we would have given ourselves a real fighting chance to have gone on to win the game.”
Knight blamed missed one-one tackling as his side’s main downfall, being responsible for three of the four tries against them.
He added: “Fair play to Caithness. They defended well and I thought their forwards gave them a good platform, but overall it was disappointing to lose as this was a game we had targeted for a win.”
Tomorrow, MacMillan will welcome the dilemma of deciding who to pick and who to leave out.
Hamilton is available as he is up for a week’s holiday, while prop Dave Lewis Saunders, hooker Sinclair Dunnet, flanker Stevie Campbell and centre Norman Foubister are all available.
MacMillan expects Stewartry to again pose a forward-dominated challenge.
Tomorrow’s game kicks off at 3pm.
Forrester: S. Fulton, F. Lamont, S. Broadfoot, S. Edmondson, P. Crolla, A. Panther, C. Panther, D. Allan, J. Speer, R. Merrilees, N. Gunderson, E. Brodie, G. Joss, K. Taylor, R. Davidson. Replacements, all used – A. Knight, A. Best and N. Drew.
Caithness: G. Mackay, K. Foubister, D. Gordon, J. Sinclair, G. Macleod, K. Hamilton, G. Fryer, J. Foubister, J. Murphy, D. Buchanan, E. Boyd (cpt), J. Hamilton, G. Anderson, A. Sangster, E. Sutherland. Replacement, used: A. Friend.
*It proved another frustrating day for Highland though they competed well before going down 8-3 in Inverness to the strong-going Hawick YM.
Whitecraigs remain the side to beat as the undefeated leaders pushed their points total past the 200 mark with a comfortable 22-0 win at Stewartry.
Hillfoots got their first win of the season, an edgy 9-7 success at home to bottom side Newton Stewart, while Linlithgow moved third ahead of Glasgow Accies after notching up an impressive 16-3 win over the city side.
In another in a clutch of close contests, Greenock Wanderers edged out Kilmarnock 10-8.
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| Hawick YM |
2 |
10 |
| Kilmarnock |
2 |
9 |
| Waysiders Drumpellier |
2 |
9 |
| Glasgow Accies |
2 |
7 |
| Berwick |
2 |
6 |
| Annan |
2 |
5 |
| Highland |
2 |
5 |
| Aberdeenshire |
2 |
4 |
| Stewartry |
2 |
4 |
| Caithness |
2 |
3 |
| Newton Stewart |
2 |
1 |
| Alan Glens |
2 |
0 |
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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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