'Fairytale' triumph for Caithness under-15s in Murrayfield final
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A CAITHNESS girls' rugby team won a major tournament at Murrayfield at the weekend in what has been "a bit of a fairytale".
The under-15s defeated Lismore 63-26 to lift the U15 Girls' Shield – much to the delight of coach Sinclair Dunnett, whose under-18 girls' team had won the Caledonian Cup in Perth for the first time the previous Saturday by beating Stirling County 41-26.
Stirling are known as the best girls' team in Scotland and are rarely beaten.
"Every one of the girls lifted their game and that was the difference," Dunnett said. "No-one was going through the motions and Stirling had no answers. At the end of the game their coach came up to me and said our last try was the best he had seen in a girls' game."
He took over the coaching role about two years ago after playing as a loosehead prop for Caithness for 22 years.
At the start of the season we only had 10 players but now we have 19 in the squad and have just won a national trophy.
It was quite a week for him and his teams. "The under-15s' win was my first major trophy with the girls," he said.
Their passage to the final at the national stadium was impressive with an 85-29 victory away to East Kilbride in the quarter-finals before a 64-5 victory at Millbank against Grampian.
"It was a bit of a fairytale as at the start of the season we only had 10 players but now we have 19 in the squad and have just won a national trophy," the coach said.
"We have picked up a few players over the season, including four from Orkney, and that has made a difference."
His daughter Hannah was the player of the match – she scored two of the 11 tries and kicked two conversions. The scrum half has also been selected for the Scotland touch squad which is heading for a tournament in France in August. Inside centre Shannon Pasotti scored four tries.
How well Caithness girls rugby is doing is underlined by their teams winning trophies and having three players from the under-18s and under-20s involved with the Scotland squads.
