Caithness suffer another heavy defeat in Stonehaven

Caithness followed a familiar script in coming off second best in their Caley 1 north conference joust in Kincardineshire on Saturday.

As on three previous outings this season, the good work of a gritty, competitive first half against Mackie was undone as they tired and ended up going down 45-12.

The hosts, one of the three newly promoted sides, had their tails up after lock forward Ian Macey rumbled over for an early touchdown.

Andy MacArthur converted and also added the extras when fly half Ross Gray gave centre Zander Begg a free run to the line near the halfway mark.

Caithness were made to pay after lengthy spells deep in enemy territory yielded no reward when they were undone by an incisive counter down the left flank.

Centre Simon Morgan got on the end of his own grubber kick to extend his side's lead to 19-0.

In the last play of the half, the Greens deservedly opened their account when skipper Hamish Coghill touched down after a multi-phase, close-range siege of the line. Fly half Jamie Mowat added the conversion.

Conceding a try right after the restart was exactly what the Greens wanted to avoid at all costs.

But that is exactly what happened when replacement Conan Adams weaved his way past and through a clutch of static defenders to score.

Within minutes, the visitors provided the perfect riposte when another forward-dominated sortie climaxed with hooker Calum Hill touching down.

The game remained competitive until the Greens tired badly in the closing 10 minutes when they conceded further tries from flanker Adam Taylor, Macey and MacArthur, who added three conversions.

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