Caithness teach students a lesson in forward power play
CAITHNESS...........................27
CAITHNESS kickstarted their RBS Caledonia 1 League campaign on Saturday with this four tries to three victory over the early pacesetters.
The Greens are now focused on consolidating their move into the top half of the table by securing points from their run of three fixtures at home, starting tomorrow with a clash with strong-going Ellon.
The students went into Saturday’s match having netted maximum returns from their opening three matches in which they racked up 124 points.
They were not allowed to settle against Caithness who hounded and harried from the outset and disrupted the supply lines to St Andrews’ sparky back division.
The visitors bossed the setpiece and were lively with ball in hand. An advancing maul from a line-out was the source of the opening try, with skipper Stevie Campbell capitalising on a fractured defence to force his way over.
Soon after, the forwards paved the way for the second score which was touched down by scrum-half Graham Fryer and converted by full-back Gary Mackay, who also added a penalty. St Andrews struck back with a converted try following a breakout from their own 22.
Caithness had a decisive edge in the ball-winning stakes as the student pack found themselves living on scraps. The home fell further behind when a well-worked move ended with centre Marc Anderson handing off his counterpart and running 20 metres for an unconverted try.
St Andrews continued to look dangerous when running from deep and scored another long-range converted try to make the half-time score 20-12 in favour of the Greens.
The home side turned things around in the third quarter when they had their opponents on the rack for long spells.
This resulted in them going over for their third try of the afternoon. It was improved before a penalty edged the Saints 22-20 ahead.
Many sides would now have crumbled but Caithness drew on their resources to regain the lead thanks to a try midway through the half by flanker Grant Anderson after a power play by the visiting pack. Mackay’s conversion ended the scoring.
While some of the Greens looked all-in shortly before, the bonus point try gave them renewed vigour and they finished the game on top. Campbell was bundled into touch when he looked set to score while Mackay missed a penalty.
The victory delighted Caithness coach Colin Sangster who believed the decision to travel the night before paid dividends.
“They played really well,” said Sangster. “The whole preparation was good as we set out a game-plan and talked about exactly what we needed to do to win the game.”
Sangster reflected: “We started at a high tempo and put them under a massive amount of pressure – we denied them space and forced them to make mistakes.
“After a really good first half when we scored two tries, we started to run out of steam against a side who were dangerous if given decent ball in space – both their tries in the first half were from their own 22.”
Sangster feared his side might have tied up early in the second half when St Andrews took a firm hold on the game.
“We were looking pretty tired and had picked up a couple of injuries and we would have been vulnerable had they chosen to move the ball more. As it was, they kept things tight and persisted with picking and going, which played right into our hands.
“We dug deep and finished the game on top and were unfortunate not to score more points.”
Tomorrow Caithness face Ellon, who are still smarting from their relegation last season.
The north-east side has had a mixed start to its campaign, with convincing wins against Orkney and Highland offset by defeats to Mackie Academy FPs and St Andrews Uni.
Sangster is relishing the revival of the fixture and is hoping to secure a third win in a row.
He said: “It will be a tough game for us but last Saturday’s result will not count for much if we don’t follow it up with a win at home.
“The guys are really buzzing and we want to maintain the momentum we have built up.”
Caithness will have to make do without scrum-half Graham Fryer, who is back offshore. He will be replaced by Gordie Macleod if he has recovered from a back complaint which meant he missed the trip to Fife. Prop John Miller and centre Danny Gordon are unavailable but newcomer Peter Healey, a hooker, could make it into the squad.
Ellon ran in nine tries against a short-handed Highland on a good day for the visiting sides in Caley 1.
Apart from Caithness, Gordonians kept up their good run with a 39-19 win over Mackie in Stonehaven while Aberdeenshire won 27-18 in Orkney.
The other game remained deadlocked with Strathmore and Hillfoots drawing 20-20.
St Andrews University – L. Turnbull, J Goddard, F. Knight, J. Hannay, S. Murchie, D. Clink, J. MacDonald, C. Banach, M. Campbell, J. Gordon, H. Baylis, K. Leask, R. Gibson, L. Stewart, C. Harries (cpt). Replacements (all used) – L. Scott, M. Jones and T. Gold.
Caithness – G. Mackay, D. McCarthy, M. Anderson, J.Sinclair, D. Webster, K. Hamilton, G. Fryer, M. Duffy, H. Coghill, R. Pottinger, A. Morris, R. Gray, G. Anderson, E. Sutherland, S. Campbell (cpt). Replacements (used) – L. MacNicol, M. Nicolson and B. Parker.