Greens notch up jubilee victory
Caithness 35 - 26 Xodus steelers
A SURREAL atmosphere pervaded Millbank on Saturday for its hosting of the first home match of the new campaign.
Usually pre-season matches are turgid, soon-forgotten affairs in which the result plays second fiddle to the performance.
Not so this tussle with a record crowd coming along to help the Greens celebrate the kick-off of their 50th anniversary season.
The opposition was in keeping with the occasion as nine former full internationalists were included in the squad coached by former national coach Frank Hadden. Despite the friendly billing, it proved a rumbustious contest with no quarter given, apart from the pre-match agreement that scrums would be uncontested – on safety grounds.
The short-sleeve crowd were caught out when unbroken blue skies suddenly turned black to herald a brief but intense rainstorm just as the players took the field. The conditions were to blame for a scrappy opening period when the greasy underfoot conditions and a succession of handling errors meant continuity play was at a premium.
The Greens made early pressure count with a Liam Brims penalty and a debut try for prop Marc Nicolson after scrum-half Kris Hamilton established a bridgehead deep in the opposition 22.
Back came the Steelers with ex-Edinburgh and Scotland back rower Stuart Reid finishing off his side’s first foray into enemy territory with a close-range surge. Caithness restored their eight point advantage at the end of the first quarter when skipper Stevie Campbell dodged three would-be tacklers on a jinking 25 yard run to the line.
Brims converted and added a penalty to give his side a 18-5 lead at the interval.
When Hamilton exploited a Danny Gordon line-break to touch down for a try converted by Gary Mackay three minutes after the turnaround, the Greens’ lead looked unassailable.
But the Steelers – who had an average age around the 40 mark – defied logic by coming on stronger as the game wore on. Just short of the hour-mark, a series of pick-and-goes was finished off by number eight John Petrie before a try for lock Malky McVie further ate into the deficit, with both touchdowns converted by Andy Knight and Duncan Hodge.
The latter score came when Caithness had been reduced to 13 men following the sin-binning of Gordon and number eight Evan Sutherland.
Hodge, the toast of Scotland’s 2000 Calcutta Cup victory over England, then put the Steelers 26-25 up with his second conversion of the visitors’ fourth dotted down by right winger Fergus Henderson with less than 10 minutes remaining.
The competitive nature of the game was reflected when Caithness went for the posts after a Steeler was pinged for going off his feet in a ruck on the 10 metre line just inside the Steelers 22. Mackay nervelessly converted to put the Greens 28-26 ahead.
Five minutes from time, Hodge passed up a glorious opportunity to restore his side’s lead only for him to misjudge a pass which would have seen him stroll to the try-line had he managed to catch it.
The Steelers used their close-quarter, muscular approach in a bid to force a breakthrough.
But the pressure was relieved by a late break-out with Hamilton’s initial foray being carried on by Sutherland before Hamilton regathered and sprinted clear to touch down under the posts. Mackay’s conversion ended the scoring.
Caithness – G. Mackay, D. Gordon, M. Anderson, J. Sinclair, G. Macleod, L. Brims, K. Hamilton, J. Miller, H. Coghill, M. Nicolson, R. Gray, R. Coghill, G. Anderson, E. Sutherland, S. Campbell (cpt.). Replacements (used) – L. MacNicol, M. Duffy, P. Nicolson, D. Pottinger, S. Webster, C. Spargo, W. Mill, R. Miller and D. Lewis Saunders.
Xodus Steelers – D. Lee, F. Henderson, C. Joiner, C. Sharman, G. Scott, D. Hodge, A. Knight, G. Kerr, R. McNulty, B. Stewart, P. Mauritzen, M. McVie, S. Reid, J. Petrie, G. Flockhart. Replacements (used) – R. Shepherd, M. Gordon, B. Haysmith, B. Ward, P. Knight and M. Waite.
Referee – Mr G. Whitecross, Elgin.