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Rampant Greens too hot for Murrayfield to handle


By Matt Leslie

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Hamish Coghill crosses the line for one of his hat-trick of tries that helped the Greens defeat Murrayfield Wanderers 39-7. Picture: James Gunn
Hamish Coghill crosses the line for one of his hat-trick of tries that helped the Greens defeat Murrayfield Wanderers 39-7. Picture: James Gunn

Caithness got their new year off to a flying start as they put on their best display of the season to thrash Murrayfield Wanderers 39-7.

The visitors from the capital had no answer to the Greens' firepower as the Millbank side ran in seven tries.

Hamish Coghill was the star of the show as the prop-forward crossed over for a hat-trick of tries.

Also breaching the Wanderers try-line were Cammy Ryder, Gordie MacLeod, Kris Hamilton and Grant Anderson, with Ryder kicking two conversions.

While Caithness are still third from bottom in National League Three, Saturday's victory draws both their beleaguered visitors and West of Scotland into the relegation dogfight and they can add another team to that list should they win at Strathmore on Saturday.

Plenty of work lies ahead if the Greens are to beat the drop, but morale-boosting wins such as this one can only help the cause.

Caithness head coach Ewen Boyd could afford himself a smile as his team blew away their visitors from the capital. Picture: James Gunn
Caithness head coach Ewen Boyd could afford himself a smile as his team blew away their visitors from the capital. Picture: James Gunn

A delighted Caithness head coach Ewen Boyd said: "The boys played extremely well. We took advantage of the Christmas break to work on a few things in training and it appears to have paid off.

"As well as the festive break allowing some time for the injured players to recover, the boys used the training sessions very well and it has been good to see.

"The first 20 minutes were tight as the score was 0-0 but then over the next 20 we opened up and ran in four tries in the last period of the opening half.

"We then went to dominate the second half by adding three more tries.

Stuart Kirk brushes aside Murrayfield's Peter Walker. Picture: James Gunn
Stuart Kirk brushes aside Murrayfield's Peter Walker. Picture: James Gunn

"The confidence flowed throughout the team and we played some impressive rugby.

"We've got Evan Sutherland back as well as Grant Anderson. Hamish did very well, as did Scott Webster.

"Over the Christmas break, we worked very hard on our defence and it was good to see evidence of that against Murrayfield.

"Perthshire got themselves a bonus-point win but we in turn have managed to pull a couple of others towards the relegation zone.

"I believe we have too good a squad to go down but I'm realistic enough to know that we have to improve on our away form – starting at Strathmore this weekend.

"I think the relegation battle could go all the way to the final day of the season."

Kris Hamilton dives over the try-line to score for Caithness against Murrayfield Wanderers. Picture: James Gunn
Kris Hamilton dives over the try-line to score for Caithness against Murrayfield Wanderers. Picture: James Gunn

Elsewhere in National League Three, Berwick took advantage of Ardrossan Academicals' match with Howe of Fife being postponed due to bad weather as they went clear at the top with a 23-7 win against Greenock Wanderers.

West of Scotland saw themselves dragged into the relegation battle as they fell 38-13 at home to Strathmore.

Perthshire boosted their survival prospects as they beat bottom-of-the-table Carrick 36-14. The match between Hillhead/Jordanhill and Lasswade fell victim to a waterlogged pitch.

Fixtures for Saturday (all kick-offs 2pm)

Greenock Wanderers v West of Scotland

Hillhead/Jordanhill v Perthshire

Howe of Fife v Carrick

Lasswade v Berwick

Murrayfield Wanderers v Ardrossan Academicals

Strathmore v Caithness

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