Highland 2nd XV claim another Caledonia North Two title with win at Aberdeen
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Highland’s 2nd XV claimed the Caledonia North Two crown with a 24–12 over Aberdeen Grammar 2nds.
The Canal Park outfit only needed one point to guarantee themselves the league title, so knew they had done enough before the final whistle when they picked up a try scoring bonus point.
It wrapped up a successful campaign for the Raptors, who won 10, drew one and lost one of their 12 league matches in the 2021/22 season.
Despite winning the league again though, they are not eligible for promotion due to being a second team, so Aberdeenshire will go up to Caledonia One instead.
For the Raptors, focus will now turn to preparing to defend their crown next season, and director of rugby Brian Bell is hoping for more normality in the 2022/23 campaign.
“We still need to record who’s coming to training, and the players still test before training and on weekends to make sure they’re not positive,” Bell explained.
“We’ve got through the season pretty well considering the number of cases there were around Christmas time. Hopefully we’ll be able to look forward to next season being a bit more traditional.
“I know nationally, in the ‘real world’, things are going to change at the end of March, but how that impacts on us we still have to find out.
“There might well be a relaxation, an easing off, but that will be towards the end of the season.
“We just have to wait and see what advice we’re given by Scottish Rugby, because that’s what we’ll comply with.”
The Raptors were not the only side in action last weekend, as Highland’s third team played out their match away at Dyce with an extremely unusual result.
There, the match ended in a 0–0 stalemate – an outcome that did not help either side’s title aspirations in the Caledonia North Four.
Dyce are top of the table, but only have one match left to play against second-placed Caithness.
Highland are third, but no longer have the advantage of games in hand as they look to mark their first campaign in the Caley leagues with silverware.
Inverness Craig Dunain’s women’s team also stepped on to the pitch in the National Bowl group stage, but they lost out 22–27 at home to Cartha.
