Hat-trick for Webster as Greens progress to second round
Home comforts helped the Greens return to winning ways as they progressed in the National Shield at the expense of Panmure.
Saturday’s 62-20 victory over their Caley 1 rivals earned them a second-round tie versus Blairgowrie.
They banished early blips to overcome gritty opponents in the first meeting between the sides.
With two injuries emptying their bench early on, the visitors predictably ran out of steam, conceding three tries in the final 10 minutes.
The game was notable as it marked the 300th appearances for two Greens, winger Gordie Macleod and lock Hamish Coghill.
Dougie Webster scored the first and last of the Greens’ 10 tries in a man-of-match display.
The combative, fit-again Reece Coghill was the pick of the pack, closely followed by back-row colleagues Duncan Mackay and Sinclair Bremner.
Panmure’s Gus Lindsay landed a first-minute penalty before the sides traded tries.
Webster bagged his first before visiting loosehead and coach Neil Dimmock powered through to touch down for a try converted by Lindsay.
Caithness stormed back with Webster pouncing on a loose opposition pass to run in his second.
Euan MacDonald touched down within a minute of the restart only for the scrum-half to be shortly after sin-binned after taking the rap for a run of penalties conceded by his side.
Though short-handed, the Greens struck again with lock Kevin Budge when he bullocked over after a lineout created by Jamie Mowat’s 50/22 touch finder.
In the last action of the half, Budge was over for his second. In between, Lindsay potted his second penalty.
Mowat’s four conversions had the Greens 33-13 ahead at the turnaround.
The Broughty Ferry outfit briefly revived their hopes when centre Liam Tares broke two tackles to score a converted try two minutes after the resumption.
But their fate was sealed after they conceded two tries within the next eight minutes.
Winger Grant Mackay, who had earlier impressed with two stonking tackles, got on the end of a well-executed back move to score the first.
Full-back Aaron Brook and Webster then did the spadework for MacDonald’s second.
Against a flagging pack, the Greens put a gloss on the scoreline with their late flurry.
Reece Coghill scored from close range before Tom David and Gary Macphee engineered a gap for fellow replacement Ryan Cormack to gather and touch down with his first touch.
Webster then capitalised on a strong carry from Budge to step his way past two defenders to complete his hat-trick a minute from time.
Brook’s second conversion completed the scoring.
Head coach Cameron Boyd was impressed with the intensity, invention and execution of the Greens’ attacks and their support play.
On the debit side, he said the side still has a fragility in defence, with missed one-on-one tackles featuring in the concession of all three tries.
Boyd was also concerned about another penalty count in the high teens, most of which involved high tackles.
“We have struggled to adapt to how different referees interpret the rule and that is an area we need to improve,” he said.
The second-round tie against Blairgowrie is at Millbank on November 9.
The Greens’ next game is away to North Police in Aberdeen in the North Conference of Caley 1 on October 19.
