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| RAF LOSSIEMOUTH 3 - CAITHNESS 46 by Iain Grant |
| Wed 7th Dec 2005 |
The Greens progressed to the second round of the BT Bowl on Saturday after enduring an angst-ridden afternoon at the Moray air base.
They started the game intent on justifying their tag as favourites to defeat a side two divisions below them.
But long before the end, their focus had changed to concern that one of their number would sustain a serious injury in a tussle blighted by indiscipline and occasional acts of thuggery on the part of the service outfit.
Lossie throughout displayed a contempt for the rules of engagement at the breakdown with their spoiling tactics badly disrupting the flow of the game.
That combined with their carping at the inevitably huge penalty count against them meant Ross-shire ref Alan MacLean was regularly in the spotlight.
Mr Ross flourished six yellow cards in the course of the afternoon and blew up four minutes early when Lossie were reduced to 11 men.
The tone was set as early as the 10 minute when Caithness hooker Stevie Campbell was felled by a ferocious high tackle from the combative Fijian centre Seta Vinivalu.
Campbell was badly dazed and spent 10 minutes on the sidelines - unlike Vinivalu who somehow avoided the first sin-binning of the day.
There were other unsavoury incidents but the depths were plumbed by home loosehead prop John Pymm just after the hour-mark.
Jamie ‘Pigeon’ Sinclair, who had be them permanently replaced Campbell, had been tackled near the half-way line and had presented the ball on the ground as a ruck developed. Pymm arrived on the narrow blind-side and proceeded to jump towards the pile of bodies, with his lead boot coming down heavily in a stamping motion.
Fortunately for Sinclair, it merely grazed his forehead. Had the contact been been a couple of inches towards him, he may well have been heading for a casualty ward but a neuro-surgical unit.
The assault was not spotted by the hard-pressed Mr Ross but it generated a major dust-up as three or four players from each side became involved in an outbreak of fisticuffs.
When peace was restored, Lossie’s Neil Boyd and Danny Budge, of Caithness, were each yellow-carded.
Rugby-wise, Caithness had started the game reasonably well though their three week lay-off was evident in some sloppy play.
Promising positions were not exploited because of poor ball retention, with the usually reliable William Mill and Budge being two early offenders.
The Greens took a fifth minute lead when a home scrum went awry and visiting scrum-half Graham Fryer picked up the ball which squirted out behind The Lossie tight-head.
Fryer outflanked the cover to touch down for a score which Michael Henderson was unable to convert.
Three minutes later, they increased their lead when Duncan Sangster chose to ignore an overlap to cut inside and score under the the posts.
Henderson added the extras to give his side a 12 point cushion.
A malevolent undercurrent pervaded the game following the poleaxing of Campbell and Caithness were unable to get any flow to their game.
Flanker Evan Sutherland was to have one of his best games of the season, regularly supporting attacks while also not shirking his defensive duties.
The Greens were well ahead in the possession and territory stakes but they struggled for much of the rest of the half to make these advantages count.
Wing Jamie Begg had several decent forays down the right wing and Sangster was denied his second try by a superb smother, last-ditch tackle from Vinivalu.
The Greens line-out has been very reliable this season but the chopping and changing caused by Campbell’s injury caused it to misfire.
Where they excelled was in pinching possession at the rbeakdown, whether by counter-tackling or isolating ball-carrying opponents after the tackle.
Greens full-back Richard Mackay and James ‘Pop’ Sinclair went close to scoring before their side got a tird try 10 minutes from the break.
Sutherland provided the key link in a sequence which saw Budge forced his way over the line from close range.
Henderson converted.
Lossie’s Graham Dunn got his side off the mark with a penalty but Caithness had the last say of the half.
It was sparked by a penalty which Lossie conceded after Dunn had a clearance kick charged down by Jim MacMillan.
The quickly taken award saw Henderson feed Sangster whose quick hands enabled Campbell to dive over near the right corner flag.
RAF Lossiemouth -- S. Jones; D. Bradshaw, S. Vinivacu, S. Lamport, R. Rutherford, G. Dunn, D. Cooper, J. Pymm, S. Gillan, N. Boyd, P. Devlin, S. Leven, A. Cairns, D. Wight (cpt), I. Holland. Replacements (used) - M. Graham, K. Corrigan, G. Alison, A. Fleming.
Caithness -- R. Mackay, James 'Pop' Sinclair, W. Mill, D. Sangster, J. Begg, M. Henderson, G. Fryer, J. MacMillan, S. Campbell, R. Gray, E. Boyd, D. Budge, L. MacNicol, A. Morris (cpt), E. Sutherland. Replacements (all used) - H. Boyd, James 'Pigeon' Sinclair and R. MacKintosh.
Ref -- Mr A. MacLean, Fearn.
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