Highland dump Ellon out of league with thumping win
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HIGHLAND put in a superb display to defeat Ellon 50-5 at the Meadows and consign the Aberdeenshire club to relegation.
The forwards never let up on the home defence and from strong rucking and mauling they provided plenty of ball. The link in the chain from forwards to backs was well-served by a change of the half-back pairing with Gareth High switching to scrum-half and Ruaridh MacDonald at stand-off.
They ran the game well and saw five tries scored in the first-half — Craig Findlater with two and one each for Oscar Baird, Rory Cross and Ed James, with MacDonald converting three.
Coach Dave Carson was happy with what he saw as Highland’s best first-half of the season so far and the much improved defending saw only one unconverted try conceded for a half-time score of 31-5.
In the second-half Highland kept up the same strong play but seemed to have their handling upset by the change of wind direction. Some of the handling was not quite as smooth but that mattered little, as they could keep recovering the ball and territory.
The result was another three tries, with a second for Cross and one each for Stuart MacDonald and Steven Rutledge. Two were converted by stand-off Ruaridh MacDonald for a final score of 50-5.
This was just the tonic in performance Highland needed as they approach some difficult fixtures, starting with an away trip to Caithness next Saturday. With a settled squad, Carson feels they will come away with a win if they can reproduce the same effort at Millbank.
As for Ellon it was a sad day as the result sees them now fixed at the bottom of the table with no escape possible from relegation. If the second relegation slot is acted on then as many as four clubs are still in the danger zone.
Highland’s under-18s were in action in the Caledonia Cup on Saturday and although they came away 19-12 winners they had to endure some nervy moments from a well-motivated Orkney side.
The hosts made a lot of changes from their cup final side, in part due to injuries and also due to a planned squad rotation. Yet the coaches were confident that the players coming in would be able to step up. The home side started with the strong wind at their back and although this helped them get off to a good start, their finishing was poor.
Orkney drew confidence from this and their solid defence saw them create some attacking opportunities. Highland got on the scoreboard first with a secure line-out setting up a rolling maul that saw them cross the line with Euan Milton touching down.
Highland now dominated more of the play and a quick penalty first saw Seumas Ross, playing at stand-off for the first time, score out wide, which was followed by a strong run by skipper Stephen Grant, who broke tackles to score under the posts. The two tries were converted by Fionnlagh Call for Highland to lead 19-0 at the break.
It may have looked as though Highland were home and dry but Orkney came right back at the home side at the start of the second-half. The islanders dominated and although Highland defended well enough, they were misfiring in attack which did not relieve the pressure. The game became a midfield tussle in the mud with penalties given away by both sides.
The breakthrough in this deadlock came when a ball was kicked through by Orkney, chased down by their full-back who picked up and dived over. The conversion made it 19-7 and further pressure had Highland begin to panic in defence and a good set of drives by the visitors resulted in their hooker driving over for an unconverted try and reducing the deficit to 19-12.
There was news from the National League as it was revealed that Currie had won their last fixture to draw level with Highland on league points, but win the title on points difference. It is not an ideal situation in a league where everyone only plays each other once and resulted in Highland playing more away fixtures than Currie.
However, this may change next season but for now Highland were quick to congratulate the Edinburgh side.
