Nine tries for Krakens in third successive bonus-point win
The Krakens turned on the style in the second half as they chalked up their third successive bonus-point win in their first meeting with Turriff.
They ran in nine tries without reply at the home of the north-east club to stay firmly in pole position in women’s Caledonian North League 2.
The Krakens were without a handful of regular starters on Saturday and travelled with 16, with replacement Jacqueline Barclay coming on to make her debut.
Coach Mike Flavell rated it as their most testing outing of the season and was pleased how his players were able to adapt their game plan after a below-par first half to run out 51-0 winners.
“They [Turriff] were well organised defensively and they definitely gave us our toughest game so far in terms of the physicality,” he said. “We had to work hard to score our tries.
“Their attack was not so good but they had players, particularly their full-back, who were fast and could cause problems. I thought we scrambled well to snuff out their threats.”
Flavell said their go-to tactics of spreading the ball wide came unstuck in an error-strewn first half.
“We tried too many passes and offloads that were not on and we were a bit lethargic at the breakdown,” he said.
“After the interval we were a bit more direct, going up the middle, before opening it up. Our ruck clearance was also a lot better.”
Flavell added: “It was a decent performance overall, given that we had to travel four-and-a-half hours and we had quite a few players playing out of position.”
He was impressed with Barclay, who was scheduled to make a five to 10-minute cameo but, because of a head knock to Hazel Stewart, ended up playing 45 minutes.
“She carried well and showed up well in the set-piece,” he said of the tyro prop.
The back line featured Erin Johnstone, who was making her first appearance in more than a year. The outside centre, now based in Brora, came through the Caithness youth ranks.
Full-back Carly Erridge ended the day with a haul of 21 points from three tries and three conversions.
The other tries came from lock forwards Justine Mackay and Shauna Malcolm; wingers Megan Douglas and Holly Trick; number eight Devin Stuart; and inside centre Lauren Gunn.
That brings their try tally to 45 for and one against in their three games. Next up for the Krakens is an away match against Moray on October 26.