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| CAITHNESS 49 - GLENROTHES 0 by Iain Grant |
| Thu 15th Dec 2005 |
 The Greens opened the second half of their BT National Division Three campaign with a decisive win over the league’s bottom side.
Heavy rainfall made for very sticking going at Millbank with some parts of the pitch taking on a porridge-like consistency.
The conditions were unconducive to a free-flowing, high-speed game - a factor which undoubtedly favoured the Fife outfit.
Caithness had in Glenrothes faced fresh-faced opponents, many of whom were recruited from the ranks of the club’s colts.
Their side on Saturday was, in contrast, packed with experienced, streetwise campaigners who were all too happy to engage in a slugfest up front.
They successfully by fair means and foul in spiking both the speed and quality of possession Caithness won at the breakdown.
The upshot was a less-than riveting spectacle with many turgid passages which would prove enthralling only for fans of mud wrestling.
Where the Greens carried the aces was in the quality of their strike runners, with it not coincidental that most of their seven tries stemmed from first-phase plays.
Glenrothes are this season a shadow of their recent illustrious predecessors who were on the coat-tails of the country’s top clubs and produced internationalists in Iain Paxton and David McIvor,
The visitors passed up a decent opportunity to take a second minute lead when James Dunbar was wide with a very kickable penalty.
They fell behind four minutes later immediately after a sweeping move towards the swimming pool end saw winger James ‘Pop’ Sinclair forced into touch inside the opposition 22.
Caithness pinched the line-out and Michael Henderson spotted a gaping gap to go over near the posts.
He landed the conversion and shortly afterwards added a penalty.
Glenrothes showed plenty of grit and resistance in the forward exchanges with their pack creating another scoring opportunity after a Green strayed offside in trying to defend an advancing rolling maul.
Dunbar’s effort from the opposite of the park was similarly unsuccessful.
After 15 minutes, the crowd was roused by a cracking long-range try.
After Caithness had pillaged possession in their 22, scrum-half Graham Fryer probed the blind-side where his side had a looming overlap.
Full-back Richard Mackay took the ball on and cleverly used James ‘Pop ’Sinclair as a decoy as he sprinted over half the length of the pitch to go over.
It was a welcome respite from a game which had and was to continue to contain all too many dull, featureless spells.
Twelve minutes from half-time, left wing Hamish Boyd marked his first start of the season with the first of his two tries of the afternoon.
It had its origin in a fine burst from Evan Sutherland with Fryer up in support and playing in Boyd to romp over home from 20 yards.
Henderson improved Mackay’s try to increase his side’s interval advantage to 22-0.
The 15 minutes after the resumption was the home side’s poorest spell.
Lacking direction and shape and regularly coughing up the ball, they allowed Glenrothes to gain confidence and start to entertain notions of getting something out of the game.
The Greens sparked into life with a weaving break from Henderson from his own 22 which Duncan Sangster carried on before the move aborted as result of an over-ambitious one-handed pass-out-of-the tackle by David Pottinger.
The next sequence saw the home side increasing their lead thanks to a well-judged angle by Hamish Boyd on to a rehearsed move from a scrum.
He also showed good strength in staying on his foot after a tackle and Fryer was on hand to take the scoring pass from three or four yards out.
Henderson added the conversion.
Greens skipper Andy Morris featured along with Danny Budge and John Foubister with some fine carries.
One such counter by Morris after 62 minutes saw him charging his way 30 yards to the line without a hand laid on him.
Caithness finished the game well on top against the fast-tiring Fifers and added two further scores.
After a 71st minute penalty was kicked to touch, a perfectly timed take-and-drive from the line-out saw Pottinger emerge under a guddle of bodies to claim the touchdown.
Six minutes later, prop Jim MacMillan was in the quarterback berth from a tap penalty to link out wide where Hamish Boyd fended off two abortive tackles to steam over for his second.
Henderson converted two of the last three tries to end with a personal total of 18 points.
Pottinger was denied a second try at the death when referee Fred Fraser was unable to see whether he had grounded after another fine drive from the pack .
Glenrothes president Jules Glendinning was generally happy how his troops had fared.
He said: "We knew it was going to be difficult, especially as he were missing a few regulars.
"I thought we stuck in very well and we had a particularly good spell early in the second half."
He added: "Caithness were well organised but I thought we came out of the game with a lot of pride.
Caithness -- R. Mackay, James 'Pop' Sinclair, W. Mill, D. Sangster, H. Boyd, M. Henderson, G. Fryer, J. Foubister, D. Pottinger, R. Gray, E. Boyd, D. Budge, L. MacNicol, A. Morris (cpt), E. Sutherland. Replacements (all used) -James 'Pigeon' Sinclair, J. MacMillan and and D. Buchanan.
Glenrothes - G. Tipling, P. Aird, C. Maxwell, G. Linton (cpt), D. Clark, J. Dunbar, M. Delorey, L. Fowlis, S. Clark, B. McInnes, J. Goodall, E. Robertson, D. McGregor, D. Campbell, D. Bremner. Replacements (both used) - M. Leitch and C. Grieve.
Ref -- Mr F. Fraser.
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| 1st XV Season (2010/11) |
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