Evergreens head to Orkney for Come Ashore Cup fundraising match

Caithness Evergreens head north on Saturday to take part in the second staging of a charity memorial rugby match.

They are the holders of the Come Ashore Cup, inaugurated to remember farmer and former player Alexander Mill. He died suddenly in April 2021, aged 45.

They will again take on the Orkney Vikings in the match involving squads of over 35-year-olds.

The first match at Millbank in October was watched by a bumper crowd and raised more than £18,000 for the Royal Scottish Agricultural Benevolent Institution and John O’Groats Development Trust.

The winners of Saturday's match at Pickaquoy will pick up the Come Ashore Cup, which is in the form of a traditional Orkney bridal cog mounted on an engraved Caithness stone base.

William Mill, a cousin of Alexander, is to coach the Evergreens, assisted by Danny Gordon, while Welbeck estate manager Anson MacAuslan is skipper.

Proceeds from the day, which includes a raffle and a post-match auction, are to be split between Farmstrong Scotland and Orkney Prostate Awareness.

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