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Highland triumph over improved Gala performance


By Staff Reporter

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Highland Rugby Club coach Chris Brogan was delighted to come away with a 16–10 victory against a much-improved Gala side.

Highland v Dundee, Canal Park, Inverness...Scott Fraser...Picture: Callum Mackay. Image No..
Highland v Dundee, Canal Park, Inverness...Scott Fraser...Picture: Callum Mackay. Image No..

A 34–18 win at Canal Park in September will have given the Greens confidence going down to the Borders, but with a new coaching team in place, Gala put up a stronger fight in tricky conditions.

“Gala were really up for it, and better organised as well,” Brogan explained.

“They’ve got a couple of ex-internationalists coaching them now, so it was a good old ding-dong.

“We set our stall out a couple of weeks ago with some great defensive efforts against Watsonians and Marr, and that continued at the weekend which was really pleasing to see.

“It was tough, but we were delighted at the end of it. Any win on the board is a good win.”

Scott Fraser kicked a penalty to put Highland into an early lead, but Gala soon hit back through Gregor Mein, with stand-off Dean Keddie converting to give the home side a 7–3 advantage.

Highland tried to respond, and Craig Findlater had a golden chance to restore their lead when he broke through Gala’s defence, but in the snowy and windy conditions the ball squirted out of his grasp before he could touch down over the line for a try.

A few minutes later though his brother Andrew launched a similar attack before giving the ball back to Craig to score.

Fraser converted, and another penalty saw Highland take a six-point lead into the half-time interval.

Conditions eased off slightly after the break, which was to Highland’s benefit as they would have been playing into the wind during the second half.

They continued to put pressure on their hosts, and another penalty converted by Fraser extended the lead even further.

A single penalty for Gala did close the gap, but that completed the scoring for the afternoon to give Highland a solid win.

The Raptors took a big step towards retaining the Caledonia North Two title with an 89–7 win at home to Banff, moving them within two points of another title triumph.


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