Greens rocked by injuries in heavy loss to much-improved Ellon
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The Caley 1 League curtain-raiser at Millbank on Saturday made for painful viewing for Caithness fans.
Visitors Ellon were a step ahead in just about all departments as they racked up a 60-24 win.
While helped by shortcomings in the inexperienced Caithness squad, the north-east outfit have improved significantly from last season and are set to mount a serious tilt at the title.
Apart from experiencing one of their biggest shellackings on home soil for many years, a clutch of Kenny Russell's players exited with significant injuries.
Ellon's high-tempo attacks, featuring slick passing and improvised off-loads, regularly saw them gallop past the gain line.
The home cause was not helped by a sluggish defensive line and too many missed tackles.
The visitors opened the scoring on five minutes when flanker Brad Fraser powered over.
Caithness restored parity on 13 minutes when full-back Cammie Ryder seized on a rare misplaced opposition pass to romp home from just outside his own 22.
In between the scores, home stand-off and skipper Marc Anderson was forced to retire with a dislocated shoulder.
From the restart, the Greens were penalised and visiting number eight James Halmshaw broke through to touch down after a five-metre lineout.
Ellon continued to enjoy the bulk of possession and stand-off Josh Andrew bagged two more tries to enable his side to turn round 28-7 ahead.
Halmshaw's line break paved the way for lock Douglas Sharp to grab their fifth try before Reece Coghill reduced the deficit with a close-range score.
Ellon stretched their lead to 45-19 with two further touchdowns just after the hour mark from winger Ross Davidson and centre Kieran O'Brien.
Home lock Kevin Budge responded when he forced his way over at the other end.
Ellon exploited an overworked and tiring defence with further tries from Andrew (2) and Davidson in the last 10 minutes.
A defiant last stand by the hosts saw prop Hamish Coghill strong-arm his way over to claim a losing bonus point.
Andrew finished the day with a 30-point haul from four tries and five conversions.
Replacement stand-off Jamie Mowat kicked two conversions.
Russell said: "It was a second weekend when we couldn't handle the physicality of the opposition. Our line speed was pretty poor, as was our workrate, but the run of injuries really rocked us.
"Any side that loses their 7, 8, 9 and 10 in the course of a game is going to struggle big-time."
On a day of few positives, Caithness more than held their own in the scrum and they did score four tries.
Russell fears Anderson and open-side Jack Macleod (suspected knee ligament damage) could be sidelined for the season.
Number eight Coghill will go through concussion protocols, while scrum-half Euan MacDonald was also taken off with a head knock.
Duncan MacMillan picked up a shoulder injury caused by a tip tackle late on which saw the perpetrator yellow-carded.
The extensive casualty list poses major problems for Saturday's trip to play Aberdeen Wanderers.
"We're going to be seriously struggling on Saturday," the coach said. "Apart from all the injuries, there are going to be quite a few regulars unavailable."
Dunfermline and Grangemouth Stags both opened their Caley 1 accounts on Saturday with impressive victories.
The Fifers racked up a 47-17 win at home to newly promoted Aberdeenshire, while the Stags were 62-12 victors at Hillfoots.
A last-gasp penalty condemned Caithness 2nd XV to an 11-10 defeat in their opening Caley 3 League match in Thurso on Saturday.
Highland 3rds celebrated like they had landed the title after Ross Gibson unerringly spliced the posts.
The match at Millbank had a mundane feel until an action-packed last six minutes following an extensive delay while an ambulance was called to take a visiting player to hospital.
Tomo Reid scored the only points of the first half with a runaway try for Highland.
The Yellows enjoyed long spells of possession after the interval and drew level through a Dave McCarthy try midway through the half.
Gibson then nudged the visitors ahead with a penalty before the match was held up for 20 minutes while the Highland casualty received on-field treatment.
After the match switched to the neighbouring pitch, the home outfit went 10-8 up thanks to a close-in try from Willie Steven.
Prop Ben Bissett's angled conversion attempt struck the nearside post.
The match was settled in the final action when Gibson converted a penalty in front of the posts.
On Saturday, the Yellows host Craig Dunain. Kick-off is at 3pm.
Caithness Krakens meanwhile are away to Aberdeenshire Quines in the Women's North Regional League.
