Krakens 'never let their heads down' in Highland defeat
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The Krakens lost out on their first away trip of the Caledonia North Region 2 season when they went down 37-10 to Highland on Saturday.
Though in their first season in the league, the Inverness side have a core of experienced players and are sure to end up being in contention for the title.
The result did not reflect the pattern of the game, with the teams separated by a single score for most of the contest.
The Krakens called on the services of a handful of exiles to produce a 21-strong squad for the match at Canal Park.
Highland struck first early on but parity was soon restored when Dundee-based lock Stephanie Craig scored with an incisive break to the line.
A second touchdown for the hosts was followed by good spells of pressure by the Krakens which yielded their second try.
A quickly taken penalty after visiting scrum-half Aileen Simmonite had been high-tackled ended with stand-off Ellie Anderson touching down.
Highland scored a third try just before the interval to lead 15-10.
A third try 15 minutes after the break gave them some more breathing space but it was only a scoring burst deep in the final quarter that allowed them to pull away.
The Krakens were forced into an early reshuffle when a head knock sidelined full-back Devon Stuart, who by then had put in two cracking one-one-one tackles.
Karlyn Bernard moved back from centre and was prominent in both defence and attack.
Stand-in coach David Pottinger was impressed by how the Krakens kept their foot to the floor for the full 80 minutes.
"They never let their heads down," he said. "The scoreline wasn't a fair reflection of how we played as a team.
"There were some good unit skills, with our lineout working well, and our scrum was dominant. Our work at the rucks was also pretty good."
Defence is an area he believes they need to improve, with three of the opposition tries seeing would-be tacklers being handed off.
The coach believes the team will take much more from the defeat than from their previous week's 78-17 thrashing of Moray.
This Saturday, the Krakens are away to Stornoway when they hope to welcome back a couple of regulars for the overnight trip.
