Highland too strong as Shetland brushed aside
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IT was all one-way traffic as Highland overwhelmed Shetland 129-0 at Canal Park to emphatically ensure their unbeaten league record remains intact.
With the Caledonia League Division Two North title secure and a RBS Bowl final looming on the horizon, Highland used this as an opportunity to rest some key players.
The city club, however, still proved far too strong for the islanders with a performance that produced their 18th straight victory in the league, while leaving them just 25 points shy of the 1000-mark in the process.
The visiting side should be commended for never giving up, but the gulf in class was clear right from the outset as Highland dominated proceedings from start to finish.
Maintaining a high tempo from the off, the hosts went in at the interval 60-0 in front, yet they quickly showed after the interval that they had no intention of letting up.
Richard Sim finished the day with the honour of leading try scorer for Highland with four. Laurie Cuthbertson came next with three, while there were two apiece for Eamon Guinan, Craig Irvine, Rory Cross and Stephen Murray.
The rest of Highland’s points came courtesy of single tries by Tam Magowan, Paddy Bryden, Dave Titterington, Calum McIntosh, Callum Carson and Darren MacLeod. Irvine also kicked 12 conversions.
Although this proved to be a no contest for Highland, the game was a good exercise in ball handling, as well as running into space, yet it may not have been the test the coaches would have liked with the Bowl final now less than two weeks away.
As easy as the match was, Highland’s coaching team will have the squad working hard as ever at training prior to the visit of Stornoway to Canal Park on Saturday — a fixture where Highland will receive both the league title and the North Bowl they won earlier in the campaign.
If Highland can come through with a win over Stornoway, and then overcome Aberdeen Wanderers away from home at the beginning of May, then they will have achieved another of their targets as they look to finish the league season still boasting a 100 per cent record.
There was also success for Highland’s primary four/five and primary six/seven squads, who each made the trip to the Kinloss Mini Festival.
After a great day’s rugby, Highland came away having won both age groups, adding to the groups ever-increasing number of tournament victories.
