Hat-trick of tries for Harvey as Caithness Krakens notch third league victory
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The Krakens took centre stage at Millbank on Saturday after the Caithness men's 1st XV match was scuppered by Covid.
Mike Flavell's team took full advantage of their solo billing as they notched up their third victory of the season in the Women's North Region League with a 29-24 win against Stornoway.
Though never behind, the outcome was in doubt up to the final whistle.
The scoreboard featured a hat-trick of long-range counters from home full-back Caitlin Harvey, who displayed the range of skills that won her junior and senior international 15 and seven-a-side honours in the mid to late 2010s.
For all of Harvey's derring-do in attack and defence, she was pipped for the Caithness player of the match by flanker Helen Richard. She was prominent throughout with her unstinting energy and attrition as well as chipping in with a try.
Donna Wilson, one of the six-strong Orkney contingent, notched what proved the decisive score late on before Stornoway's fourth at the death, which deservedly earned them two losing bonus points.
The islanders were quickly out of the blocks but despite their territorial dominance found themselves 12-0 down after 15 minutes.
Harvey struck with her first involvement when she fielded a stray would-be touch finder on her own 22 and proceeded to step her way inside and outside a posse of opponents before surging up the right flank to touch down.
The full-back repeated the feat when she got at the end of a slick first-phase passing move to go over for a try, which she converted.
Soon after, the Krakens thought they had gone further clear when a battery of close-in raids ended with winger Ashley McLean touching down, only for referee Paul Stewart to rule it out for a ruck infringement.
Stornoway rallied and pulled level with a breakaway try from centre Iona Cooper and an interception from Hannah Chisholm, which Cooper goaled.
Suitably stung, Caithness wrested back the initiative.
The pressure told as Stornoway's overworked defence cracked to allow Richard to plunge over after good work by number eight Stacey Tualasea.
Megan Douglas added the extras to put her side 19-12 ahead at the interval.
Stornoway bossed the third quarter with their powerful hit-up runners and their sparky half-backs seeing them press hard to eat into the deficit.
The Caithness goal-line was tested to breaking point and midway through the half flanker Jayne Murray was put in the clear to crash over near the posts.
Caithness rode out another prolonged spell of pressure and forced a turnover which gave Harvey the space to initiate another run to the line for her hat-trick try.
Five minutes from time, they scored again when centre Olivia Henderson was twice involved in a sweeping move finished off by Wilson.
Undaunted, Stornoway mounted a late flourish and completed the scoring when Murray raced clear to touch down before adding the conversion.
Coach Flavell was delighted with the performance and the win, which puts Caithness third, with two matches remaining.
Their task, he said, was not made easier by the five-week gap from their last outing and the absence of half a dozen regulars.
"It was good to see others step up," he said.
"I thought we were very passive for the first 20 minutes but when we got into our stride and started to play to our game plan, you could see the progress we are making.
"We didn't want there to be too many collisions and tried to move the ball wide as often as we could."
Flavell also praised his team's resilience in absorbing heavy spells of pressure deep in their 22.
He said: "You have to remember that of the 21, for five or six of them this was just the fifth game of rugby they have played."
He singled out Richard and Tualasea as the pick of his pack, with Harvey a threat every time she got hands on the ball.
The Krakens have two games left in the league, in which each team plays each other just once.
They travel to Peterhead on Saturday before winding up with a home match the following week versus leaders Shetland.
Three Caithness players will be vying for national recognition when they take part in this weekend's under-18 women's Scottish trials.
Hannah Dunnett, Rhianna Mackay and Morven Thomson are travelling with their Orkney-based club colleague Aleisha Womack to the trials at Murrayfield.
