Highland take centre stage after ruthless defeat of league-leaders Gordonians
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Highland tore apart the previously unbeaten side and delivered what head coach Dave Carson believes was the most complete display of his time in charge.
Oscar Baird, Stuart MacDonald, Andrew Findlater (two), Stephen Murray and Richard Sim all crossed the tryline for the title hopefuls as Highland dominated at Canal Park.
With a game in hand over Gordonians and now the only unbeaten side left in BT Caledonia League Division One, Carson is confident his side are sending out a message to the rest of the division.
“When other teams are getting 50 put past them by Gordonians and then they see us doing something similar against Gordonians, they know they’ll be up against it,” he said, with his side facing the Aberdeenshire outfit again in the Shield on Saturday.
From a slow, confident start, Highland took control of the game and kept the visitors pegged back into their own half for most of the first period. The opening score came from a penalty kick into the Gordonians 22.
The lineout won saw a maul driven to the line for Baird to peel off and score in the corner. A difficult conversion was missed but it was 5-0 to the hosts.
Highland were now up and running and before the break the dominant pack set up plenty of scoring opportunities with a hat-trick of tries by number eight MacDonald. With two conversions by Ruaridh MacDonald it was 24-0 at half time.
The team chat at the break saw Carson encourage his players to keep up the pressure and prevent a fight-back by the visitors.
His players did that and more, executing all of their rehearsed moves precisely, with a work rate that left the visitors’ defence completely outclassed.
The next score saw Highland play through phase after phase, ending with a clever Tom Brogan box kick that saw Findlater go over for an unconverted try.
There was no respite for Gordonians as Highland maintained their discipline. With a good mix of play Gordonians were continually pinned back and the pressure saw Highland run in another three tries by Murray, Findlater and Sim. Ruaridh MacDonald did the honours with the conversion and the final score was 48-0.
This display, the result of fine preparation at training, saw a high workrate maintained for all 80 minutes.
“It was an outstanding weekend for us and beyond anything we could have expected,” said Carson. “It’s probably the most complete performance I have seen in the two years I have been back.
“Gordonians were shell-shocked. As soon as they got the ball we were right in their faces. We kept working for the full 80 minutes and the guys were desperate not to let them cross the tryline.”
Saturday was a good day all round for the club, with Highland squads receiving new kits from the club’s sponsors and some of the Greens’ “old boys” descending on Canal Park for a reunion.
Gordonians will not relish visiting the Highland capital again as their 2nd XV were also defeated on Saturday at Canal Park by Inverness Craig Dunain, who put in a solid performance to remain unbeaten in October with a 17-3 victory. They now sit third in the league.
