RAF Lossiemouth hoping to make it third time lucky with Millbank trip
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RAF Lossiemouth will hopefully make it third time lucky on Saturday to fulfil their away fixture with the Greens.
The Caledonia Region League 1 North Conference game has had to be twice rescheduled after the service outfit could not come up, first because of "operational reasons" and then because the base was on standby alert to deal with potential local flooding.
Caithness head coach Cameron Boyd can call on a near full-strength squad for the clash at Millbank.
He is still sore at how his side surrendered a 26-7 lead in the match at Lossiemouth on November 11 to end up drawing 26-26.
"We were gutted at how that game went, though fair play to Lossie for coming back so strongly," Boyd said.
"I'd say we're playing a lot better now than we were then.
"With RAF sides, you never really know what you're going to come up against but we are preparing for them to come up with their strongest squad."
Boyd added: "Training has been going really well and it was good to see Euan MacDonald back training again."
The scrum-half has been out for two months with a knee ligament problem but is not expected to be match fit for a couple of weeks. Gordie Macleod will continue in the pivot position in his absence.
Saturday's match is the first in Thurso between the teams since the death of Caithness regular Marc Mackenzie, who had a stint working as an engineer at the Lossie air base.
The 30-year-old lock forward was killed in a motorcycle crash in his home village of Castletown in March 2021.
Players, officials and spectators will observe a minute's silence in his memory before the game during which the two captains will hold the shirt number he played in.
Kick-off is 2pm.
Caithness Seconds' scheduled home clash with Moray 2nd XV last weekend was called off because of a waterlogged pitch.
The Yellows are due to travel to Stornoway in a Caley 2 Highlands and Islands Conference encounter on Saturday.
Caithness Krakens, meanwhile, get their women's National Plate campaign under way with a home match against Dundee Valkyries Seconds. It also kicks off at 2pm.
