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| DISMAL DISPLAY LACKED FIGHTING SPIRIT by Iain Grant |
| Fri 26th Mar 2010 |
Lambs to the slaughter does not begin to portray the Greens’ abject submission on Saturday.
That their heaviest ever league defeat was sustained against the runaway Scottish Hydro’s NLD 2 champions in no way excuses such a feckless display. That four of the nine tries they conceded were finished off by attackers breaking through tackles tells its own story.
Caithness may have had a string of key absentees and forced to blood more than a desirable quota of striplings and comeback men but that is no mitigation for a lack of heart – a quality which Caithness teams over the years have displayed in spades.
Very few home men would scrape pass marks in a contest, which was as good as over after they leaked three tries in the opening quarter.
Scrum-half Graham Fryer gave his all to the cause before retiring injured midway through the second half while teenage flanker Christopher Simpson deserved his late try for a battling display.
The outcome made a mockery of Wanderers’ attempt to have the game postponed because they had players travelling to the international in Dublin. They strolled to victory and now have their sights firmly set on winning a place in the Premiership.
The visiting pack laid a strong platform with their runners showing commendable vision in trying to free the ball before or during contact. They played at a high tempo and in stand-off Kieren Smith had the stand-out player of the match.
He scored four tries in Greenock’s 52-7 home win over the Greens. His speed of foot and mind saw him repeat the feat on Saturday with Smith adding seven conversions to end up with a personal haul of 34 points. The writing was on the wall when centre Brendan McGroarty eluded the grasp of two players wide on the right before stepping past home full-back Gordie Macleod to score under the posts.
Shortly afterwards, prop Mark Rogers exploited a turnover at a ruck before rumbling his way through Macleod’s would-be tackle to the line. Smith potted a penalty before finding a yawning gap in the home defensive line after the ball was worked back following a driven line-out.
The Greens’ first visit into the opposition 22 five minutes from the interval provided a welcome respite from a surfeit of defensive duties.
Greenock grabbed their win bonus just before the turnaround when Smith jinked his way past four bemused Greens to score without a hand being laid on him.
Shortly after the restart, Greenock right wing Gregg Workman scored a long-range try before scrum-half Andy MacDougall pounced on a loose pass to score under the posts.
Caithness struggled to retain possession with their most promising inroads coming from a solo break from Stuart McIntosh down the right touch-line. His kick-ahead was just too strong and crossed the dead-ball line.
In between Smith’s third and fourth try, Simpson had finished off a determined Caithness onslaught in the Wanderers’ 22.
After Smith’s attempted clearance kick was charged down, Simpson was first to dive on the loose ball in-goal. Stand-off Liam Brims landed the difficult conversion.
Four minutes from time, Caithness were threatening a second when a pass failed to go to hand and Workman scooped up and ran the length of the field to score his second of the afternoon.
Smith’s successful kick put the final nail in the Greens’ coffin.
The match ended Caithness 7 Greenock Wanderers 62.
Caithness – G. Macleod, M. Oswald, W. Mill, D. McCarthy, P. Nicolson, L. Brims, G. Fryer, C. Smith, B. More, T. Sutherland, J. Miller, A. Morris (cpt), S. Mcintosh, D. Pottinger, C. Simpson. Replacements (all used) – R. Gray, D. Gunn and M. Nicolson.
Greenock Wanderers – L. Tylie, G. Workman, B. McGroarty, J. Stewart, A. Knox, K. Smith, A. MacDougall, M. Lavelle, A. McMichael, M. Rodgers, M. Gray, M. Duncan, A. Abernethy, G. Finnie, C. Robb. Replacements (all used) – M. Standlick and N. Paterson.
Ref – Mr S. Reynolds, Elgin.
Greens coach Colin Sangster said it was case of men against boys. “I watched a video of the game and we missed a total of 48 tackles – that says it all.”
Caithness have now lost five matches on the bounce without earning a single bonus point. The downward spiral means they require Preston Lodge to lose to tomorrow to completely exorcise any lingering relegation fears.
For second bottom Preston Lodge to pip the Greens, they would have to win their three remaining matches, all with bonus points, and count on Caithness drawing a blank in their last three fixtures.
It is a very tall order and a handful of other sides are also battling to save their skins.
But Caithness, who have no game tomorrow, cannot afford to get demob-happy.
A couple of wins in their remaining clashes away to Cambuslang and Kilmarnock and at home to Stewartry could see them end up in the top half of the table.
Meanwhile, the two-horse race for the second promotion spot remains as fierce as ever.
Glasgow Accies jumped ahead of Lasswade into second after beating Highland 41-14 at New Anniesland.
Stewartry did their fight to beat the drop a power of good after a 37-12 home win over Newton Stewart.
Cambuslang also got the win they needed to retain a lifeline in their battle to avoid a second successive demotion. They extended their recent impressive home form with a 22-10 eclipse of Waysiders /Drumpellier.
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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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