Greens’ defence is put to the test
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STRATHMORE 3 - 3 CAITHNESS
BOTH clubs had to settle for a share of the points on Saturday after their first competitive clash at Strathmore’s home in Forfar.
Played on a dour day on a greasy surface at Inchmacoble Park, the RBS Caley 1 game was never going to be a high-scoring try fest. The outcome was settled on respective kicks at goal and squandered five-pointers.
The Greens were boosted by the return from injury of experienced scrum half Graham Fryer and tighthead prop Tommy Sutherland, who had just stepped off a plane after a holiday in Thailand. They soon found themselves under the cosh as their opponents established a stranglehold on possession. The visitors valiantly manned the barricades in their 22 as they repelled a succession of powerful attacks.
They also had to withstand the loss of Stevie Campbell who had to retire with a hamstring pull midway through the half. He was replaced at centre by Graham Poke who was soon playing his full part in the resolute defensive effort.
A rare foray into enemy territory near half-time paid dividends when a Strathmore player was penalised at a breakdown and fullback Blair McIntosh spliced the posts to give his side a welcome interval advantage.
The game turned on its head in the second period as the Forfar outfit increasingly found itself on the back foot. The introduction of Sutherland and Hamish Coghill from the bench powered up the Greens’ scrums and their backs were at last given some usable possession.
Strathmore tied the scores when stand-off Stewart Ross – who had failed with several earlier attempts – slotted a three-pointer after a Green strayed offside. Thereafter, it was the visitors who looked the more likely winners.
McIntosh was just off target with several subsequent pot shots while handling errors at the end of promising moves thwarted looming tries.
Towards the end, a series of pick-and-goes ended with flanker Peter Nicolson set to go over only to lose possession at the death.
Greens coach Donald MacIntosh lauded his troops for their defensive mettle early on. He said: “They hit us hard in the first half and sought to take it out of us when the journey was still in our legs. But we have done a lot of work on defensive alignment and the guys did really well to keep their structure and tackled to a standstill. It was a really impressive performance in defence.”
MacIntosh was frustrated they had nothing to show for their second-half dominance.
“Going into the last quarter, we had the upper hand and were pushing for a score. They were conceding a lot of penalties but, unfortunately, we just couldn’t convert the pressure into points.”
Given Strathmore had won 30-19 in Thurso, the coach was happy to pocket two points from the away fixture.
Tomorrow Caithness have, weather permitting, a crucial game in Aberdeen versus Gordonians, who are also battling to move away from the basement zone.
MacIntosh said: “This is our last game before Christmas and it’s a game we really want to win so we can start moving up the table.”
Strathmore: D. van Wyk, M. Marshall, J. Kiety, B. Marshall, D. Smith, S. Ross, G. Tallett, K. Mitchell, T. Malkowski, D. Hampton, S. Gray, G. Watson, B. Morrice, J. Wilson, C. Bell. Replacements: F. Cameron, S. Knox and R. Murray.
Caithness: G. Macleod, M. Oswald, M. Anderson, S. Campbell, N. Smith, B. McIntosh, G. Fryer, S. Dunnett (cpt), M. Nicolson, R. Pottinger, G. Anderson, A. Morris, R. Coghill, E. Sutherland, P. Nicolson. Replacements used: T. Sutherland, H. Coghill and G. Poke
Gordonians, meanwhile, overhauled a ?half-time deficit to defeat Aberdeen University 23-17.
In Saturday’s other game, Mackie Academy FPs collected another scalp after scoring a 19-13 win over Highland.
