Junior Greens lose out after failing to show killer touch
Caithness under-18s lost 22-5 to Highland Falcons in their opening group game in the Saltire Energy Caledonia Youth Bowl.
On a dry but numbingly cold Saturday afternoon at Millbank, the junior Greens competed well but failed to show a killer touch to finish off more of the inviting scoring opportunities that came their way.
They were caught cold early on when the Inverness side racked up a 10-0 lead within four minutes after fly-half Jack Knowles potted a penalty before converting a try from hooker Kian Thorne.
A high error count from both sides could be excused through their lack of recent action and the impact of a strong, capricious wind.
Strong pressure by Caithness saw them secure a run of penalties which ended with the sin-binning of a visiting prop.
Centres Kim Nicol and Matty Long regularly made good ground and scrum-half Logan McNeil impressed with his kicking and distribution.
A prolonged siege of the Highland line near the interval saw the ball grounded over the line but referee Ewan Scott disallowed the try for a double movement.
The home outfit scored five minutes after the turnaround when a sparky break from full-back Cameron Cunningham created the field position and Ellis MacDonald crossed from the next breakdown following a mazy run to the line.
Their momentum was halted when Highland scored soon after the restart, with Alex Drysdale touching down and Knowles landing the wide-out conversion. It got worse when McNeil was yellow-carded for a high tackle.
Caithness struggled to recapture their mojo and it was Highland who finished the scoring with a late try by scrum-half Freddie Murray.
Mike Flavell and James Mathieson stood in to look after the Caithness youngsters as regular coach Ewen Boyd was unavailable.
Flavell said: “Overall, I was happy with how they performed given that they have only managed to have one training session since Christmas and it was the first game at 18s for guys who came up from the 16s.
“We were physically on par with them though it took us about 20 to 25 minutes to fully get into the game.
“I thought we stuck in well and there were a couple of really good performances from the likes of Lee Pollard, at second row, and the two centres.”
The under-18s’ next match is their second bowl group match, away to Gordonstoun on Saturday.
