League revamp will cut down travelling commitments for Greens
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Next season will be miles better for Caithness 1st men's rugby side after the latest restructuring of the Scottish league pyramid.
The Greens will remain in Caledonia Division 1 but the rejig means they will for the first time in many years not venture south of Aberdeen on league business.
The new system has been brought in by Scottish Rugby to significantly cut down the travelling commitments of regional league sides.
Caley 1 will comprise 16 teams that will be split evenly into North and Midlands conferences.
After the rounds of home and away fixtures, the top three in each will then lock horns to determine who moves up to the new National League 4.
The bottom sides in each conference will be relegated to Caley 2.
The Greens will face just three opponents from last season in their conference, which is due to run until the second week of December.
They are Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen Wanderers, along with last season's Caley 1 runners-up Ellon, who lost out 30-24 to Stewartry on May 13 in a play-off to go up to NL4.
They are joined by the top four from last year's Caley 2, champions Moray, Highland 2nd XV, RAF Lossiemouth and Mackie.
Caithness 2nds will remain in Caley 3, which will be split into Highlands and Islands and Grampian conferences.
Kenny Russell, who is embarking on his second season as the Greens' coach, is looking forward to taking part in the new set-up.
"We're obviously pretty pleased that there's going to be a good deal less travelling for the guys," he said.
"I'm looking forward to travelling not being such a big issue. With everything doable in a day, I'm sure that will put the boys in a better frame of mind."
Russell believes the league promises to be very competitive.
"We know Highland 2nd and Ellon will be stiff opposition and Moray obviously had a good season last year and will be ones to watch.
"It's definitely got the makings of a decent league."
Russell is targeting the scrum as an area that needs to improve.
A number of Greens were more than 50 from the club who attended a scrummaging masterclass taken at Millbank last week by Caley North's full-time game development manager Sinclair Patience.
Russell said the scrum will be a constant focus at pre-season training, which gets under way on July 4.
An addition to the coaching team for the coming next season will be Wayne Ruddy, a former professional English rugby league player.
Second-team coach Cameron Boyd will again be in charge of strength and conditioning, while David Pottinger is to work with the forwards.
The club had its end-of-season awards ceremony in the Park Hotel in Thurso on Saturday evening.
The Greens' player of the year was back-rower Reece Coghill, while the players' player of the year was scrum-half Euan MacDonald.
The Doddie Mug for most appearances went to hooker Duncan MacMillan and the most improved award went to flanker Ryan Cormack.
Back-rower Sinclair Bremner was the young player of the year, while the Seconds' player of the year was utility back Jack Floydd.
Rugby will make a surprise close season appearance on Saturday when the Yellows will entertain a touring Banff side. Kick-off is at 2pm.
Caley Reds came through a nerve-shredding final on Sunday to emerge as Scottish inter-district rugby champions.
They prevailed 32-30 versus the South at Braidholm in Glasgow to secure victory in the newly revived tourney.
As in the 58-25 semi-final win versus Glasgow and the West the previous week in Inverness, former Caithness stand-off Liam Brims played a key role.
As well as directing play from the pivot position, he contributed 14 points from a try, three conversions and a penalty.
The Reds looked to be comfortable after they opened up a 29-10 lead midway through the second half.
But the South came storming back with their dominant pack seeing them force a succession of penalties while Reds pair Archie Falconer and Gordon Gregor were both yellow-carded.
The pressure yielded two close-in touchdowns from Kirk Ford and Calum Crookshanks and a long-range interception try from Michael Badenhorst, one converted by Craig Dods, which closed the lead to two points.
A penalty from the Gala full-back had his side 31-29 in front with four minutes left.
The Reds responded with a furious surge which ended with replacement stand-off Glen Faulds kicking a penalty to restore his side's lead.
The drama was not over as Dods was given the chance to win the game with a last-play penalty, only for him to slice wide of the posts.
The north men led 15-10 at the break through tries from full-back Adriu Muitoki and Callum MacPherson, and a conversion and penalty from Brims.
The South's points came from a try from captain Shawn Muir and a conversion and penalty from Dods.
The Reds stretched away with opportunist tries from Brims and his half-back partner, Falkirk's Harry Russell, brother of Scotland and Lions fly-half Finn Russell, both improved by the former Green.
But the north outfit were largely on the back foot thereafter and had to endure a fraught finale before they could celebrate victory.
Reds head coach Colin Sangster, a long-time fixture on the Caithness rugby scene, was full of praise for his team.
He said: "We were under the cosh for long periods of the game, struggled to get possession, especially from the scrum, and defended heroically, so to come away with the win is fantastic.
"The lads have worked hard and got their reward."
In the third/fourth play-off game, Glasgow and the West defeated Edinburgh 22-12.
