Attacking Greens inflict morale-crushing blow
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CAITHNESS.....................................................38
ORKNEY.............................................................3
STARTING Saturday’s match six places below their high-flying island rivals, Caithness went on to inflict a morale-crushing defeat on their visitors.
Such was the convincing nature of their five-tries-to-nil victory that disinterested observers would have been baffled to learn that the Greens are fighting relegation, rather than vying for the RBS Caley 1 title.
Too many stuttering, lifeless performances have left the Millbank club seeking to avoid what would be their first demotion.
Were they to play their remaining six fixtures with the steel and verve they displayed on Saturday, they would undoubtedly stave off such a dire prospect on the eve of their 50th anniversary.
From the off, the Greens impressed in their first league match under the charge of returning coach Colin Sangster. Orkney were under pressure throughout at the set scrums and struggled to cross the gain-line in the face of an attritional defence.
The Greens, by contrast, mixed brawn with brain power in attack, complementing set moves with some glorious off-the-cuff line breaks.
Home flanker Stevie Campbell was the outstanding broken-field runner but he never lacked support from team-mates, many of whom put in their best shift of the season.
A feisty start by the Greens in enemy territory forced an early penalty which Liam Brims sent narrowly wide.
Orkney left wing Philip Ross was prominent early on, with opposite number Neil Smith needing to pull off a fine touchline tackle to prevent the speedster racing clear.
Home fullback Gordie Macleod also got back well to smother the ball near his own line after Ross sought to gather his own hack-through.
These were to prove the only uncomfortable moments for the home side which scored a cracking opening try after 15 minutes.
A switcher of a back-row move created the initial gap for Campbell to exploit before scrum half Graham Fryer fed Smith on the narrow side.
The big winger had plenty to do, fending off one opponent before stepping inside another to go over for his first touchdown of the season.
Caithness were soon hunting a second with Campbell just unable to find a team-mate with a would-be scoring pass deep in the Orkney 22.
Orkney fly half James Linklater reduced the deficit with a penalty midway through the half but from the restart the five-point gap was restored with an opportunist drop goal from Brims.
Caithness were mixing up their attacks well, driving up through the middle but also shipping the ball wide to give both Smith and left winger Martin Oswald the chance to stretch their legs.
Five minutes from the interval, the Greens drew further ahead when Campbell finished off a phase of passing when he surged through a gap and sidestepped fullback Andrew Cromarty before touching down.
Brims added a penalty to give his side a 16-3 half-time advantage.
Orkney were firmly under the cosh and endured further punishment when they conceded a third try two minutes after the turnaround.
Brims’ penalty touchline finder and a catch-and-drive swallowed up the eight metres to the line to allow stand-in skipper Andy Morris to touch down from under a pile of bodies.
Brims turned the screw tighter after nailing the conversion from near the touchline.
Within minutes, the stand-off potted a penalty to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
Home lock John Miller was hauled down just short of the line before Caithness got the all-important fourth try that earned them a bonus point.
Campbell fractured the visiting defence with another powerful, angled run and back-row colleague Grant Anderson was on hand to take the pass and drive over the line.
Evan Sutherland almost finished off a variation of the earlier move at the tail of a scrum but the number eight had not long to wait before going over for his 12th try of the campaign four minutes from time.
A rousing series of attacks ended with Brims’ quick hands sending Sutherland over for his 12th try of the campaign.
Brims converted to round off his side’s best display of the season.
There were no shortage of man-of-the-match contenders, with Campbell’s obvious claims passed over in favour of hard-working prop Tommy Sutherland.
Caithness: G. Macleod, N. Smith, G. Poke, M. Nicolson, M. Oswald, L. Brims, G. Fryer, R. Pottinger, H. Coghill, T. Sutherland, J. Miller, A. Morris, G. Anderson, E. Sutherland, S. Campbell. Replacements: M. Nicolson, P. Nicolson and W. Mill.
Orkney: A. Cromarty, R. Moodie, J. Tait, M. Guthrie, P. Ross, J. Linklater, W. Thomson, J. Bruce, S. Rendall, R. Thomson, S. Cursiter, D. Robb, A. Brown, D. Ross, D. Bain. Replacements: B. Linklater, C. Stout and G. Goltherd.
Referee: D. Marshall, Elgin.
