‘Reality check’ for Krakens in National Shield semi-final loss at Greenock
The Krakens’ National Shield campaign was derailed at the semi-final stage when they were convincingly beaten at the home of Greenock Wanderers.
On an unseasonably hot day on a rock-hard pitch, they came up against classy opponents who now play Wigtownshire in the final at Scottish Rugby’s Silver Saturday on the main pitch at Murrayfield on April 19.
The Caithness women were bidding to extend a 19-game unbeaten streak stretching back to September 2023 when they lost away to Highland. They battled gamely on Sunday but were outplayed by the West Division 1 outfit who racked up a 60-21 victory.
Coach Mike Flavell and assistant Gary Mackay had no complaints about the outcome.
“We came up against a very, very good team,” Flavell said after the 600-mile return trip to the Clyde coast.
“They were head and shoulders above anything we have come across this season. It was definitely a reality check.”
He added: “They were fast, fit and physical. They didn’t do anything spectacular but did the basics really well.
“They carried well and didn’t make mistakes. They got across the gain-line, they narrowed us up and then they worked the ball wide.”
Caithness made a promising start and spent most of the opening five minutes in the opposition 22. They turned down the chance of a couple of kickable penalties in favour of close-range assaults on the line, which came to nothing.
Wanderers took a firm grip of the game with three converted tries in 15 minutes from Catriona Gallagher, skipper Tina Hemphill and Emily Sweeney.
Caithness defended stoutly in the face of further concerted pressure and contrived to score themselves in the run-up to the interval. They worked the ball right from a scrum and winger Carly Erridge was set clear to cross for a try which she herself converted.
Flavell said: “That gave us a boost and we went in at half-time thinking we could get back into things.
“But the longer the game went on, the more they grew into it and they were ruthless in punishing our mistakes.
“We started to fall off tackles or not putting them down, allowing them to offload and putting players into space.
“We didn’t have a lot of possession and too often we coughed it up too easily. Once they got hold of it, they did the fundamentals really well and got in behind us.”
Wanderers had ended the contest by the hour mark, eventually scoring seven more touchdowns from Katie Purves (2), Sweeney, Caitlyn Haldane, Hannah Docherty, Rachel Towle and Orla McAllister. Gallagher added two more conversions.
Caithness signed off on a defiant note, scoring two cracking tries.
The first came from broken play when, after some sparky interchanges, full-back Caitlin Harvey’s line break was sustained by winger Megan Douglas and finished off by replacement flanker Devin Stuart.
Then, near the end, a pulsating break from her own 22 by number eight Emmie Smith saw her scragged near the opposition try-line.
The ball was recycled and stand-off Caitlin Flavell sent flanker Helen Richard over. Erridge converted both.
Flavell believes the score would have been considerably closer if his squad had played to their full potential. But he conceded: “Even on our best day, there is no way we would have beaten them.”
The coach believed his side went into the contest at a disadvantage in terms of the quality of their opposition this season.
While the Krakens ran up 481 points in winning all six of their Caley North 2 matches before their cup campaign, Greenock played 12 matches in a very competitive West Division 1.
“Some of the sides in their league run two teams and have a pool of 35 or 40 players whereas we have run the whole season with 23,” Flavell said. “We could definitely do with growing our player base.”
On a bright note, Flavell said: “When we look back, it has been a very good season for us. We can learn from this experience and take what we learned into next season when we will be playing Division 1 sides.”
Beverley Addison, Wanderers’ director of women and girls’ rugby, said: “The score didn’t reflect the brilliant effort put in by the Caithness girls who had some excellent players and good, hard runners up the middle of the park.
“They were very deserving semi-finalists and we hope to meet them again in the future. Big thanks to them for making the unenviable journey down.”
While the defeat marks the end of the Krakens’ 15-a-side campaign, they will sign off the season with a trip to the Orkney Sevens at the start of next month.
In Sunday’s other semi, Wigtownshire scored a 35-12 away victory over Ayr.
