Caithness bid to sign off season with victory
CAITHNESS will tomorrow play a vital part in determining the future status of long-established north rugby kingpins Highland and Ellon.
In the final round of games, Ellon entertain the Greens knowing defeat would consign them to their second successive demotion. Victory would mean Highland suffering the ignominy of the drop.
Caithness coach Colin Sangster is calling on his troops to cast off the lethargy which has afflicted them in their past two away defeats to Mackie and Gordonians.
"We don’t have anything to play for in the sense that St Andrews University’s defeat on Saturday makes certain that we will finish second.
"Maybe some think that means we don’t have anything to play for and there has been a bit of an end-of-season feel to our last two performances.
"But this is a big game and to be fair to Highland, we need to give it our very best shot."
The coach is also keen his troops do not sign off the season with three defeats.
"It’s been a really good season and losing the last three games would take a little bit of the shine off it.
"I’m looking for us to put on a good performance and a win."
Personnel-wise, prop John Miller is set to return though Grant Anderson (neck) and Marc Anderson (groin) face late fitness tests and Evan Sutherland is likely to remain sidelined with a shoulder injury. A plus-point from Saturday’s 29-8 defeat to Gordonians was the season’s competitive debut of winger from the bench of Martin Oswald, who has been on the injury list since the pre-season friendly versus Ross Sutherland in mid-August.
Highland retained a chance of staying up when they vacated bottom spot on Saturday by leapfrogging Ellon after defeating them 39-11 in Inverness. That gives them a two point advantage over the north-east side and Hillfoots, who complete their programme with a difficult trip to Orkney tomorrow.
Mackie’s storming finish to their campaign continued with a 35-20 win in St Andrews.