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| NEWTON STEWART 16 - CAITHNESS 35 by Iain Grant |
| Thu 27th Oct 2005 |
 The lush, rolling Galloway hills provided a scenic backdrop for the Greens' arrival to fulfill what is the longest-distance fixture between two mainland BT National League rugby sides.
Bladnoch Park, near the renowned malt distillery of that ilk, had absorbed torrential overnight rain and was in good nick for the match played on a dry, wind-less afternoon.
Perhaps the bucolic surroundings or the seven-and-a-half hour overnight journey were to blame for a less-than-impressive start to the contest by the visitors.
For the first half-hour, the force was very much with Newton Stewart who made regular inroads with some dynamic passages of pick-and-goes and rolling mauls.
During this period, Caithness were living on scraps, with careless hands too often turning over what little possession they had.
The Greens defended resolutely, repelling two close-in drives, but they should have fallen behind on six minutes after being caught napping at a scrum on their 22.
The home side exploited a lack of resistance on the blindside and would have scored had winger Alistair Gibson been able to take a pass 10 metres from the unguarded line.
Newton Stewart opened the scoring three minutes later when a probing kick by Neal Armstrong bounced kindly to allow Andrew Davidson to gather and romp over.
The lead lasted for just under a minute, thanks to a piece of individual virtuosity from Duncan Sangster.
The Greens centre intercepted a pass just inside the Newtwon Stewart half before skipping past two defenders and blazing a path down the right touchline.
Michael Henderson just missed with the conversion but six minutes later potted a penalty after the home side infringed in front of the posts after a sniping break from Richard Mackay.
Newton Stewart were soon back on the offensive with the Greens defence looking uncharacteristically shaky.
A rampaging run from centre Peter Dewar after 18 minutes took him to within a few yards of the line, with the visitors conceding a penalty from the resultant breakdown.
With home stand-off Pete Newton hors de combat following a collision with Greens prop John Foubister, Armstrong took the kick to level the scores at 8-8.
Henderson missed a shot at goal before Armstrong bagged a 28th minute effort to put his side in front for a second time with 12 minutes to the interval.
It was only then that the Greens started to reproduce the style of rugby which has made them genuine title and promotion candidates from NLD3.
Wing forward Steven Campbell was almost in after charging down an attempted clearance kick before a good spell of continuity saw William Mill fail to use an overlap to his right.
The pressure had its reward two minutes from the break when a Foubister charge sucked in defenders and the ball was freed quickly to allow skipper Andy Morris to improvise a basketball-style pass to send Ewen Boyd over.
Henderson's conversion put his side 15-11 up.
Worse was to follow for the home outfit in the last action of the half when Greens scrum-half Graham Fryer clever switch to the narrow side ended with William Mill giving the scoring pass to Campbell.
That appeared to draw the fire from the Wigtownshire men who thereafter looked a beaten side.
A feisty restart saw Caithness in full flow with only a last-ditch tackle preventing William Mill crossing after a powerful midefiled thrust.
The third score on 57 minutes was created by a diagonal break from Henderson which fractures the defence.
He was finally collared in the shadow of the lefr-hand touch flag but managed to offload to the supporting Campbell who plunged over to secure the bonus point.
The Caithness back row, largely anonymous asa unit before the interval, were now showing up well in support and as strike runners.
Newton Stewart were seldom in eneemy territority and fell further behind on 62 minutes when Henderson nailed a penalty.
The game became fairly broken up and shapeless before the visitors increased their lead six minutes from time.
Like the first try, this one was all down to an individual with Sinclair seizing on a sloppy opposition pass to hack through from the half-way line before a second, gentler tap allowed him to touch down.
Henderson addd the extra points to make it 35-11.
A final attack from Newton Stewart two minutes from no-side saw their burly Gary MacDonald over after a messy squence of play.
John McTurk, a member of the home coaching team, said: "We were going well for the first 30 minutes when I felt the game could have gone either way.
"The two tries Caithness got before half-time certainly put their tails up and we had to score first after half-time to get back in the match.
"We didn't and the game then went away from us. Over the piece, you'd have to say Caithness deserved to win."
Newton Stewart -- K. McWhirter, A. Davidson, N. Armstrong, P. Dewar, A. Gibson, P. Simpson, H. Cottle, G. MacDonald, S. Kingston, M. Baird, A. Gaw, I. Fisher, R. Gaw, M. Wallace, E. Dewar. Replacements (all used) -- J. McWhirter, S. McWhirter and A. Cooper.
Caithness -- R. Mackay, J. Sinclair, W. Mill, D. Sangster, B. Morris, M. Henderson, G. Fryer, J. MacMillan, D. Pottinger, J. Foubister, E. Boyd, R. Gray, A. Morris (cpt), A. Sangster, S. Campbell. Replacements (all used) -- D. Buchanan, H. Boyd and J. Begg.
Ref -- Mr M. Bland, Ardrossan,
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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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