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| GREENS SUFFER FOURTH STRAIGHT LEAGUE DEFEAT by Iain Grant |
| Fri 12th Mar 2010 |
Waysiders / Drumpellier 31 Caithness 22
A misfiring start to both halves on their first ever visit to Coatbridge condemned Caithness to their fourth straight league defeat on Saturday.
They have failed to earn a single bonus point over this period and are desperate for a pick-me-up tomorrow when they entertain relegation-haunted Stewartry.
The Greens can still go down from Scottish Hydro Electric National Division 2 though such a scenario would require a very unlikely combination of results.
Nevertheless, the side would like to be in a more comfortable position than at present, with a better ppoints cushion.
Three late enforced call-offs on Saturday left the visitors short-handed in the front row while Gordie Macleod again stood in as emergency scrum-half.
After conceding two early converted tries, they battled back to go into the interval with a single point lead.
But the gathering feel-good factor was punctured when they let in a soft try immediately after the restart.
The game was then in the balance until the home men grabbed their fourth touchdown midway through the half. Two late tries at either end in the death pangs of the game were meaningless to the outcome.
The Lanarkshire men hit their straps from the kick-off and within a couple of minutes, a scrum provided the platform for a wide move which ended with open-side flanker Gordon Anderson taking an inside pass before crossing.
Further pain for the visitors came when another slick handling sequence put centre David Milne over near the posts to allow Phil MacKenzie to nail his second conversion.
The Caithness scrum was regularly under pressure and Macleod did well to make the most of the scrappy possession which regularly came back to him.
Caithness got their first points on the board with a penalty potted by teenage stand-off Liam Brims. The visitors by now had the upper hand and deservedly ate further into the deficit when Andrew Sangster picked up from the base of a scrum on the opposition 22 and beat a path to the line.
It got even better a minute from the interval when James Sinclair’s coruscating run from his own half set up a two-on-one.
His pass across full-back Brian MacMillan released Evan Sutherland on an unopposed run-in.
Brims’s conversion put the visitors 15-14 ahead at the turnaround.
The Greens lost all the momentum they had built up in the second quarter with a calamitous resumption to the game.
After coughing up possession with a knock-on from the restart kick, they were caught flat-footed as Waysiders moved the ball wide for MacMillan to touch down for an unconverted try in the corner.
The Greens recovered to again enjoy plenty of possession and the game was in the balance until the home men struck again with 10 minutes to go.
A concerted attack deep in the Caithness half ended with number eight Shane Armitage bullocking over from a scrum five.
A yellow card shown to Waysiders’ lock Tobias Rorstam for reckless use of the boot at a ruck gave a chink of light to the visitors.
But that was quickly shut off when Milne grabbed his second of the afternoon three minutes from time.
The conversion from MacKenzie took the homesters 31-15 up and out of sight.
There was still time for a glorious touchdown for the Greens when Macleod sent James Sinclair on a mazy run from the half-way line when he jinked past several opponents before outmuscling MacMillan to score under the posts. Brims landed the extras to leave his side two points shy of a losing bonus point.
It was frustrating viewing for stand-in Greens coach Eann McIntosh.
He said: “We really threw it away in the opening minutes of each half. After losing the two early tries, I thought we could be in trouble but we stuck in and started to play some really good rugby.
“We deserved to be ahead at the interval and I then thought we had laid the platform to go to win the game.”
McIntosh said his side continue to be blighted by defensive shortcomings which contribute to avoidable tries.
He singled out Macleod for his battling display in an unfamiliar position and Sinclair for his storming runs on the wing.
Waysiders – B. MacMillan, G. Walker, N. Logue, D. Milne, C. Macaffer, P. MacKenzie, M. Gairn, I. Grant, N. Maguire, N. Collin, T. Rorstam, S. Conroy, G. Anderson, S. Armitage, C. Collin. Replacements (all used) – M. McShane, C. Brooks and G. Ferguson.
Caithness – G. Mackay, M. Anderson, B. McIntosh, J. Paterson, J. Sinclair, L. Brims, G. Macleod, C. Smith, H. Coghill, R. Gray, J. Miller, A. Morris (cpt), S. McIntosh, A. Sangster, E. Sutherland. Replacements (all used) – B. More, D. McCarthy and S. Grant.
* Highland produced the performance of the day in the Scottish Hydro Electric National League Division 2 on Saturday despite losing 18-16 away to Greenock Wanderers.
After going 18-0 down, the Inverness outfit staged a gutsy fightback and only a failed touchline conversion attempt prevented them from ruining Greenock's 100 per cent record at Fort Matilda.
Immediately after the match, the Greenock men were presented with the NLD2 title.
The quest for the second promotion spot remains live wqith both Lasswade and Glasgow Accies sustaining their bids with home victories.
Lasswade won 47-7 against Kilmarnock while Accies crushed Preston Lodge 65-5.
Stewartry came out tops in the basement battle with their 26-19 win at Cambuslang.
Newton Stewart remain in the dogfight at the bottom after they went down 36-19 on th eroad to Hawick YM.
* Kris Hamilton returns to the bench for Scotland's junior Six Nations clash in Glasgow against England tonight.
He was replacement scrum half in the under-20's draw at home to France and defeat in Cardiff but won a starting place in the away win over Italy.
The coaching team have opted for the more physical prescence of Leeds Carnegie's Alex Black to fill the number nine shirt at Firhill against unbeaten England.
* Caledonia lost out in their bid to win the Scottish under-18 inter-district title outright on Sunday.
Having beaten Borders and favourites Edinburgh, they travelled to Glasgow in confident mood. But Caley, coached by Caithness coach Colin Sangster, went down 17-15 at New Anniesland.
He said: "It was very disappointing as we had our chances to win the game, notably a kick in front of the posts in the last minute."
Caley had to settle for a share of the title with Borders.
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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 |
 |
| 1st XV Season (2010/11) |
| Stewartry vs Caithness |
| 11th Sep 10 - KO: 15:00 |
| Venue: Greenlaw |
| :: More Fixtures |
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