Krakens well placed for last eight after seeing off Oban Lorne
It’s so far, so good, for the Krakens after they racked up their second successive win in their qualifying group of the National Shield.
Saturday’s hard-earned 29-20 victory over Oban Lorne at Millbank leaves them well positioned to secure a place in the last eight of Scottish women’s second-tier tournament.
Mike Flavell’s outfit were fully extended to see off their West Division 1 opponents whose punchy, abrasive pack was paired with a young, free-running back division.
The Krakens were first on the offensive with a strong touchline run by left winger Erin Johnstone and a close-in raid in which lock Holly Trick’s feed to Devin Stuart saw the centre bundled into touch near the left corner flag.
Full-back Caitlin Harvey was also levelled in full flow.
Harvey was not to be denied on 13 minutes when she surged onto Stuart’s pass to run in from the opposition 22. Karlyn Gemmill added the extras.
Oban’s big forward carriers were securing good field possession, though their momentum often stalled because of careless handling errors.
They did finish off a sustained spell of pressure when their burly, mobile lock Julie Campbell barged over from close range for an unconverted try after 25 minutes.
The Krakens hit back six minutes from the interval when a series of phases, lit up by touch passes and reverse offloads, culminated with openside Helen Richard spotting a gap on the short side of a ruck to breeze through unopposed. Gemmill’s conversion extended the lead to 14-5.
Oban recharged their batteries and the last action of the half saw Heather Fothergill send fellow centre Poppy McKillop on an angled run to the line. Ellie MacInnes’s conversion struck the inside of the far post.
Replacement Krakens scrum-half Tamzin Rosie was first to feature after the resumption with a kick-and-chase in which she was inches away from a try.
From the next possession, Harvey was given space and she had just enough gas and momentum to touch down.
On 45 minutes, the full-back was in again after centre colleague Gemmill had done the spadework with a midfield shimmy and cut-out pass.
Within five minutes, the Krakens went 29-10 ahead when number eight Emmie Smith pirated possession at a maul and ran in from 20 metres.
The score did not reflect the cut-and-thrust nature of the contest and that was put right when Oban scored twice in six minutes through a second from Campbell and scrum-half Anna Bain.
The zero conversion rate from the tee proved costly for the visitors, who enjoyed the bulk of possession and territory in the closing 15 minutes without being able to again pierce a resolute Caithness defence.
“It was definitely a step up playing them,” Flavell said.
“They were much better than Peterhead [whom they beat in the first group game]. We were made to work very hard. Particularly in the last 20 minutes, they put us under a lot of pressure.”
Flavell picked out Gemmill, for her “great lines in attack and defensive reads” and lock forward Trick for her “big carries and tackles” as among his top performers.
He added: “Our overall defence and tackling was really good but I thought we didn’t get up quickly enough. Our line speed was not as good as it was at Peterhead but I thought some of our general play was outstanding.”
After registering two bonus-point wins, the Krakens play their final group game in Cupar against Howe of Fife on March 1. A win would guarantee them a home quarter-final tie.