Greens looking to end winless away run as they take on Grangemouth
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Caithness 1st XV are keen to emerge from their prolonged hibernation by putting an end to their winless run on their travels in Caley Region Division One.
Their scheduled home clash with Ellon last Saturday was their second in a row to bite the dust after the north-east side had so many in their camp either Covid-positive or self-isolating.
Caithness head coach Ewen Boyd is keeping his fingers crossed his side will be able to return to action six weeks after their last outing, the home loss to Orkney.
"I'm hoping it will go ahead this weekend," he said about their match against Grangemouth. "We don't seem to have any Covid issues and we're good to go."
That said, his squad have by no means a clean bill of health with centre Dougie Webster and scrum-half Kris Hamilton both out with long-term injuries and lock forward Dave MacIntosh and hooker Calum Hill sidelined with shoulder knocks they sustained against Orkney.
Fly-half/centre Marc Anderson could also have to miss out with a recurrent leg muscle strain.
On the plus side, experienced back rower Grant Anderson and lock Kevin Brims are available, as are the Quinn brothers, Charlie and Nathan.
Caithness came out on top in the reverse fixture at the start of October when six second-half tries helped them romp to a 39-0 win.
Boyd said: "They were a big, powerful side and we had to battle to get on top of them.
"We should have quite a decent squad and I'm looking forward to us getting back in action.
"We haven't won away so far this season so it would be great if we got a result on Saturday."
Grangemouth sit sixth, three points behind Caithness.
Last Saturday, they went down 20-17 at Blairgowrie.
Dunfermline have emerged the league's form side with their 68-5 victory over Aberdeen Wanderers on Saturday their fifth win on the bounce since their defeat in Thurso at the end of October.
That kept them top of the pile but Orkney remain most people's favourites following their 47-7 win at Glenrothes.
That leaves the Kirkwall side three points behind the Fifers but with two games in hand.
