‘We got the job done’: Krakens are champions with 100% record
Caithness Krakens duly clinched the Caledonia North Region League 2 title on Saturday with a no-frills 41-10 victory over Orkney Dragons.
It ensured they finished with a 100 per cent record and atoned for the heartache of the previous campaign when they were pipped for the sole promotion spot by Highland.
While the Krakens celebrated an addition to their trophy cupboard, Orkney deserve to receive the bulk of the plaudits.
The Dragons, who are very much in rebuild mode, proved dogged, spirited opponents who deserved more than the two tries they scored on a glorious winter day at Millbank.
They had their hosts on the rack during several concerted spells of pressure when only obdurate defence kept them out.
The Krakens’ efforts to generate momentum were regularly undone by careless hands, with their phased attacks lacking bite and imagination. Their seven tries owed largely to long-range, lung-busting line breaks from individuals.
The visitors arrived with 12, with their squad augmented by Edinburgh-based Caithnessian Olivia Henderson and the loan of several Krakens on a rota basis.
That the early stages were error-strewn was understandable given it was the first competitive outing for both sides since November.
The first score came after three minutes when Tamzin Rosie exposed the visitors’ close-in defence at a scrum on the halfway line. The teenage scrum-half skipped through on a mazy run to the line.
Devin Stuart would have added another but for a cracking last-ditch cover tackle from visiting stand-off Donna Wilson.
The Krakens then had to weather a sustained onslaught on the line. with Stuart featuring with a try-saving tackle out wide on her erstwhile team-mate Helen Richard.
The elusive Rosie contrived to bag two more tries within two minutes before the turnaround as her pace and footwork took her past a succession of opponents. Carly Erridge converted all three to put the Krakens 21-0 up.
Within a minute of the turnaround, full-back Caitlin Harvey appeared to be boxed in near the touchline when she suddenly burst inside and burnt off the scramble defence to touch down.
Three minutes later, the Dragons got off the mark when strong pressure on the Caithness goal-line was finished off by Henderson.
The contest was killed off by two tries in quick succession from the Krakens midway through the half.
Another breakaway from Rosie paved the way for the first, scored by Emmie Smith, while an Orkney clearance kick fielded and run back by Harvey ended with Richard crossing.
Centre Lauren Gunn scored a close-range seventh for the hosts before a late flurry from the Dragons ended with centre Amy Walker touching down.
Caithness coach Mike Flavell admitted his team did not adapt well to the 13-a-side format in which most of the game was played.
“We struggled to get our combinations going, and being missing a player in the back row slowed things up,” he said.
“Being out of action for so long certainly didn’t help. There were too many dropped balls.”
On the credit side, he was impressed by the resilience of their defence.
“We were definitely better defensively than we were in attack,” Flavell said.
“And we ended up getting the job done and winning the league.”
Orkney coach John Cairns was very happy with the effort put in by his players.
“It was a really good performance,” he said. “It’s great to see the progress we’ve made from the start of the season to where we are now.
“We were up against a really quality Caithness side, but I thought that once we got going we matched them up front and our backs worked the ball wide well whenever they got a chance.
“We had good spells of pressure and we had opportunities to score more tries.”
The Krakens now focus on the National Shield in which they are in a qualifying group with Division 1 outfits Peterhead, Oban Lorne and Howe of Fife. Their first game is away to Peterhead on February 8.