Highland grind out win against title rivals
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HIGHLAND survived a poor performance to overcome title rivals Garioch for an important 22-11 away victory.
Despite having a full-strength squad, Highland didn’t seem to be fully focused and found it very difficult to establish a rhythm and were fortunate to emerge victorious.
A scrum near the home line helped give Highland the lead. The pack shoved the opposition off the ball and scrum-half Craig Little dived on it for a try.
The visitors’ play then deteriorated, with bad handling, dropped balls and poor position at contact. This allowed Garioch to come into the game and they converted two penalties for a 6-5 lead.
Highland continued to misfire and with the home side given so many chances, they eventually grabbed a try before the visitors managed more points from a Craig Irvine penalty, for a half-time score of 11-8.
In the second half Dave Carson’s side stabilised their play with the home side getting very little time in Highland’s half. But the visitors couldn’t mount any serious attacks. However, a fortunate scrum near the home line allowed the dominant pack to push over the line for Gareth High to fall on the ball. With a Scott Fraser conversion, Highland went back into the lead at 11-15.
In the last 10 minutes Highland really got their game going, with winger Craig Findlater making a 50-yard run only to be held up short of the line. A drive over the line saw Little pounce for his second try and Fraser’s conversion made it a final score of 11-22.
Highland now need a bonus point win against Aberdeenshire next Saturday to put them within touching distance of securing the league title.
Should they win the Regional Bowl final against Stornoway in two weeks they will meet Uddingston of RBS West Division Three in the semi-final of the National Bowl.
Saturday also saw Highland’s under-18’s progress to the Caledonia Cup semi-final after a controlled performance over Dunfermline.
Lyall Archer opened the scoring for Highland, before Stephen Grant sneaked in at the corner despite a determined effort by Dunfermline to knock him into touch.
The conversion was missed, but it was not long before they added to their tally. Scrum-half Finn Call spotted a gap in the ruck and dived over for a score under the posts, also converting for a 19-0 lead.
Dunfermline came back with a score of their own but an early try in the second half from Ross Martin, who raced 25m to score under the posts, sealed a 26-5 victory.
