Youngsters step up to seal emphatic Highland win
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HIGHLAND’S eased into the next round of the BT Caledonia Shield with a resounding 55-3 triumph over Harris Academy.
It rounded off a good weekend for the Canal Park club, with the 2nd XV also recording an emphatic victory over Ross Sutherland.
Highland started slowly against Harris when compared to their league form, yet once up and running the difference in class between the two sides was obvious. The game was well controlled and coach Dave Carson was pleased how all of the squad showed individual as well as team improvement.
The first-half saw tries from Kevin Brown, Harrison Wright and Oscar Baird and with Ruaridh MacDonald in good kicking form, there were three conversions and two penalties. The home side were only able to manage a solitary penalty in reply to trail Highland 27-3 at half-time.
In the second-half Highland kept up the pressure against a Harris Academy side that never gave up as well as wanting to run the ball from anywhere, which made the game very entertaining. Four more tries came from Shaun Blair, Stuart Watson, Andrew Findlater and Steven Rutledge all converted by the accurate MacDonald for a final score of 55-3.
The coaching team was impressed by the form of those former under-18s who had moved up from the second XV such as Wright, who took his try well.
Once again, the spread of try-scorers shows how much Highland are playing as a team and with no serious injuries, Carson’s side now look forward to the visit of Dunfermline for the return to league business.
The second XV had an early gap in their league programme filled on Saturday with a friendly match against an in-form Ross Sutherland. The depth in Highland’s playing pool certainly showed as even though several players from last weekend’s league win were either unavailable or promoted to the first XV, a strong squad still travelled to Invergordon. The home side took the opportunity to rest some of their squad but perhaps they were not expecting the level of play they encountered.
Coaches James Hay and Alastair McKenzie were very pleased to see their much changed squad register a hefty 42-12 win and this is a big morale booster for the league games coming up.
It was not quite such a great weekend for Highland’s junior section. The under-18s travelled much weakened by injuries and came up against a reinforced Currie side to go down 39-0 in Edinburgh.
On Sunday, the good news was the continuing fine form of the under-16s, who recorded a big 60-0 win over Currie to make it four wins from four games. The remaining sides had a much tougher time, the under-15s losing 60-5 in Edinburgh, the under-14s going down 53-0 and the under-13s losing 50-0, the latter two both at Canal Park.
