Loss of tries before half-time a kick in the teeth for Greens at Dunfermline
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Caithness slumped to a 64-12 defeat on Saturday as Dunfermline signed off their Caley 1 League campaign in style.
Their win gives chasers Orkney the very achievable target of securing the 16 points they need in their five remaining games to pip the Fifers to the title.
The islanders kept on track when a last-gasp try by replacement Jon Tait earned them a 27-25 bonus-point win over Ellon in Kirkwall.
The Greens were left to reflect on a margin of defeat which had not looked remotely possible when they trailed 7-0 with two minutes remaining of the first half.
The concession of two further tries changed the tone of head coach Ewen Boyd's interval talk as realistic hopes of a third straight away victory were dashed.
Three touchdowns run in by the hosts in the final five minutes added gloss to their ninth straight win.
The sting in the tail came as Caithness, with a bench featuring three front-rowers, faded badly.
The visitors were desperately short of personnel in several positions, notably scrum half where they started John Mann, one of the two dual-registered players they enlisted from Ross Sutherland.
Marc Anderson, back after a lengthy injury lay-off, played centre, while his brother Grant resumed in the back row after recovering from a bout of Covid.
Dunfermline took the lead midway through the first half when flanker Owen Brown was put free down the right to cross unopposed.
The game was hotly contested and it was only in the death throes of the first half that the hosts were able to savour the scent of a looming victory.
Left-winger Harvey Gardiner went in for the first of a hat-trick before, from the restart, full-back Lewis Cumming finished off a sweeping move.
Adam Fraser nailed a penalty soon after the resumption before further tries from Gardiner (2) and lock forward Gus Thomson made it 43-0.
Caithness worked their way back into the game and Mark Nicolson went over on the hour mark for a try converted by Marc Anderson.
A second try from Grant Anderson six minutes from time narrowed the gap to 43-12.
But that was as good as it got for the Greens, who conceded three more at the other end from replacement Ethan Morgan (2) and fly-half Callum White.
As well as the penalty, Fraser kicked eight conversions.
Coach Boyd said the loss of the two tries just before half-time was a real kick in the teeth for his troops.
"I thought we dominated the first 20 minutes, then Kevin Brims went off with a knee injury," he said.
"Our lineout suffered and we struggled in the set-piece after that.
"But we were still very much in it until we lost two tries in two minutes right before the break. After that, we were chasing the game."
Boyd felt his side fronted up well given the issues he faced in getting a squad together.
"We had quite a few boys who hadn't played a lot of first-team rugby and boys coming back from injury and from Covid," he said.
"Angus Lapslie started at 7, having just had a couple of run-outs with the Seconds before this. He he did well – did everything we asked of him – as did the two Ross boys.
"We worked really hard but with no cover for positions 4, 5, 6, 7, we were always going to struggle to last the full 80 minutes."
Boyd believed the back division performed well, given they were regularly on the back foot and lacked a platform to work from.
Caithness have to refocus and set their sights on extending their impressive home form when they entertain Ellon on Saturday.
Euan MacDonald should be fit to resume at scrum-half, though Brims looks likely to be ruled out, while Grant Anderson could miss out through work commitments.
The game at Millbank kicks off at 3pm.
The Kirkwall result killed off Ellon's title bid, though the two losing points reaped by the north-east side allowed them to draw level with Caithness in joint third.
Grangemouth Stags' 21-19 win in Hillfoots enabled them to leapfrog their hosts into fifth, while Blairgowie's 23-8 victory at Glenrothes leaves the New Town men rooted to the bottom, still searching for their first win.
