Manner of victory delights Highland head coach after rout of Glenrothes
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HIGHLAND rugby head coach Dave Carson believes it is all looking bright for a great end to their season, with their convincing away victory at Glenrothes leaving them buoyant.
The Inverness side came through a stern test on Saturday as their 39-19 victory at Glenrothes all but knocked their third-placed hosts out of the chase for the BT Caledonia Division One title.
It also made it 14 wins from 14 and moved them two points behind leaders Gordonians, who they travel to on Saturday. Highland have three games in hand, so the pressure will be on their hosts to deliver.
There’s also the small matter of Highland contesting the BT National Shield against Carrick at Murrayfield a week on Saturday, and it’s all adding up to a spectacular campaign.
Away from home, Glenrothes were always going to be tough opponents, but Highland were delighted to head north with a bonus point win, having already beaten the Fifers 65-0 in Inverness in the league last month and 39-5 in the BT Caledonia Shield on February 20 at St Andrews.
Highland started strongly and should have had two tries in the first 10 minutes from some well worked phases if the final passes had gone to hand.
The promise shown was soon rewarded as Highland began a 20-minute blitz of fast paced play that Glenrothes couldn’t resist.
Highland ran in four tries with two conversions to lead 24-0 and likely to be out of sight if it continued that way.
However, the visitors lost focus and it was all the home side needed and they made good use of the lapse.
Approaching half-time, two similar breaks by Glenrothes full-back Shaun Gray ran in two tries with one converted for 12-24.
The half-time talk brought Highland back on course and they increased their lead with an unconverted try for 29-12.
Glenrothes had gained some confidence after getting points on the board and they replied with a converted Michael Delorey try for 29-12.
This exchange of scores upped the pace of the game and Highland were better able to adapt and took control of the match and to seal a win with another two unconverted tries.
Highland’s tries came from Andrew Findlater with three and one each for Morris Dillon, Kevin Brown, Richard Sim and Craig Findlater with two conversions by Craig Irvine.
There were no serious injury worries with Tam Magowan and Craig Findlater replaced after taking knocks. Grant Jamieson came on for Findlater on the wing and had a very good run out including some very strong tackling.
However, with all talk of winning the shield shelved for now, Carson was delighted to keep firmly on the title track ahead of a vital week.
He said: "It is all good. We struggled a bit against North Berwick in the shield the previous week, but the boys had some great play at Glenrothes.
"There was a 20-minute spell in the first half when we ran in four great tries, but then let them back in a bit just before half-time. A half-time talk sorted that out."
He added "It is a difficult time of the season, both body-wise and mentally, but it is all going well.
"Andrew Findlater again scored three tries and was fantastic at Glenrothes, simply doing everything right.
"Everyone wants to be involved in the cup final and with the second team going well too, one or two there are putting their hands up looking for a game."
