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| CAITHNESS 10 - HELENSBURGH 3 by Iain Grant |
| Wed 11th Jan 2006 |
 Knowing how to win ugly is an invaluable tool for successful clubs in all sports.
Caithness on Saturday showed they have the knack as they ground out a victory from a scrappy, low-grade encounter at Millbank.
Replacement Jamie Begg’s late try - his first of the season - extended his side’s unbeaten run at Millbank to over a year.
Results elsewhere also extended their lead over their two rivals to win promotion from BT National League Division Three.
Injuries, sickness and unavailability saw the Greens enter the fray with a much-changed line-up.
Jamie ‘Pigeon’ Sinclair filled in as third choice hooker; Strathy teenager James Paterson made his league debut on the right wing; and Norman Foubister ended his 13 month enforced exile in the unfamiliar stand-off berth.
There was also a starting berth for right winger Brett Morris while Begg, just back from a month’s trip to New Zealand, was pressed into bench duty.
Helensburgh were by no stretch of the imagination an attractive side to watch but they were well organised and committed in defence.
They also proved a handful in the close-range forward exchanges, regularly showing more aggression and dynamism at the breakdown.
For all that, they presented next-to-no try-scoring threat until a heart-stopping, last-minute breakaway which could easily have seen them return with a share of the points.
The lush, late autumn turf which suits the Greens’ expansive style is now a distant memory.
They are now having to adapt to playing on the heavy underfoot conditions which generally help more attritional, ball-up-the-jumper game plans.
This came to the fore as early as the first minute when Norman Foubister, showing he has lost none of the ball skills or inventive flair, sent Duncan Sangster free with a long, cut-out pass.
Earlier in the season, the centre - even from inside his own half -- would have exploited the space to skip clear en route to either executing or creating a score.
But his progress was hampered by the sticky surface and he was soon hauled down.
The Greens enjoyed a decent start with Andy Morris and Ewen Boyd working in concert to make good headway before a visitors was penalised for handling in a ruck.
Hamish Boyd skewed the straightforward penalty effort wide, as he was to do with a similar opportunity early in the second half.
Helensburgh battled their way into the contest with some decent phases from their forwards and the occasional snipe from their lively half-backs.
Scrum-half Stevie Walker showed his nastier side with a blatant off-the-ball take-out on Duncan Sangster which left the centre needing attention.
Norman Foubister, relishing his long-awaited comeback, featured with two all-enveloping tackles as the visitors continued to press.
Their purple patch was rewarded after 28 minutes when a ruck infringement gave full-back Andy Gowrie the opportunity to kick his side into a three point lead.
The resumption saw the Greens win a penalty at the start of a period which would see them encamped in the visiting 22 for the remainder of the half.
A superb tackle by Paterson was the prelude to a highly promising move which saw Sinclair make the hard yards before the ball was flung left to Hamish Boyd who was just denied.
After 33 minutes, the Greens appeared to have taken the lead when Donald Sangster was first to react to the ball in-goal after fly-half Chris Black had a clearance kick charged down.
Referee Alan MacLean puzzlingly chalked off the touchdown and awarded a scrum to Helensburgh.
He later explained that he believed Sangster had been ahead off the ball before it was charged down and so deemed him accidentally offside.
Helensburgh continued to be under the cosh but somehow survived another intense attack when the Greens looked certain to score several times only to mess up each time.
After Boyd’s second miscued penalty, the home support were beginning to become fractious and wonder where the points were going to come from.
Helensburgh had few genuine try-scoring opportunities with their backs using every opportunity after the break to send up wind-assisted hoists.
Most came the way of Hamish Boyd and Paterson who combined well to clear their lines.
Caithness needed a bit of inspiration and it duly materialised on the hour-mark after a Helensburgh attack was broken up in the home 22.
William Mill somehow found space to manufacture an opening which took play 40 metres upfield.
It precipitated a series of onslaughts against which Helensburgh again displayed commendable mettle to keep their line intact.
The resistance came at the price of a 63rd minute penalty which Hamish Boyd his time kicked despite it being wider out than either of his two earlier misses.
The score galvanised the home troops and within two minutes they secured what proved the crucial breakthrough.
A blindside break from Evan Sutherland foxed the fringe defence and when Gowrie hived into view, the Caithness open-side picked out the inside run from Begg who raced in unopposed.
Hamish Boyd nailed the conversion.
The Helensburgh cause was further dented when flanker Mark Sloan was yellow-carded for mouthing off to Mr MacLean about an alleged forward pass in the run-up to the try.
The game appeared to be petering out when Helensburgh came agonisingly close to pulling level in the dying seconds.
A sloppy sequence of play by Caithness culminated in Hamish Boyd having a kick charged down near the half-way line.
With no-one at home for Caithness, Black’s chase was matched only by Sinclair.
The fly half appeared favourite to reach the ball lying tantalisingly five metres from the posts.
But the young hooker somehow summoned up a burst of energy to win the race and flop on the ball and save the day for his side.
Helensburgh coach Charlie Dunlop believed an equalising score would have been richly deserved by his hard-working side.
He said: "We did come away with a losing bonus point and there’s not many teams that have come up here recently and got that.
"I could not fault the attitude of the boys, especially in defence.
"The effort was magnificent but all credit to Caithness, especially for how well they retained the ball in the second half."
Caithness - H. Boyd, J. Paterson, W. Mill, Duncan Sangster, B. Morris, N. Foubister, G. Fryer (cpt), J. MacMillan, James ‘Pigeon’ Sinclair, J. Foubister, R. Gray, E. Boyd, L. MacNicol, A. Morris and E. Sutherland. Replacements (all used) - D. Buchanan, Sangster and J. Begg.
Helensburgh - A. Gowrie, E. Meadwell, M, Caldwell, A. Cairns, J,. Welsh, C. Black, S. Walker, J. Miller, O. McInroy, J. Wiggins, D. Calderwood, J. Felton, N. Sloan, J. Musset and M. Sloan. Replacements (both used) - C. Dunlop and D. Williams.
Ref - Mr A. MacLean.
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| :: Match Report |
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| 1st XV Season (2010/11) |
| Caithness vs Kilmarnock |
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