Caithness Schools U16 team travelled to Glasgow on Tuesday to play Kelvinside Academy in the Quarter Final of the Brewin Dolphin National Plate competition. The Caithness boys travelled with a lot of confidence as they are enjoying a successful season at club level as well as School competitions. They always knew that they would be in for a tough match in Glasgow, and so it turned out!
Caithness started well with early possession, but a couple of mistakes and sloppy defending led to a try for the home team in the first few minutes. This was exactly what they had spoken about trying to avoid, but it appeared that we were going to have yet another slow start from a team from the north playing the big teams in the south.
Following another two tries the home team were well on top, and the Caithness boys looked nervous and unsure. Slowly but surely they started to find their feet and started to take the game to Kelvinside. Strong running from William Steven and Liam Bremner in the forwards, and Craig Chambers in the backs took the team forward. They ended the first half four tries down, but should have had a try of their own when William was caught from behind just a few metres short, by a covering tackle from the home winger.
The second half was much more even with both teams having chances to score. Caithness created some good opportunities particularly when Max Paul came in to the line and created an overlap, but failed to find winger Owen Gordon with the pass. That was typical of the trend for the visitors with many promising situations coming to nothing due to poor execution or decision making under pressure.
Inside the last ten minutes, the Caithness boys started to tire, and conceded three late tries as the pacey home backs cut loose. Overall the boys will feel they could have done better, and the scoreline was a bit harsh on them. However the experience will have done them a lot of good. If they could play that type of fixture regularly they would soon be winning those games.
Best performers for the team were captain Craig Chambers who gave everything, including a couple of bone jarring tackles! Ryan Sutherland, Liam Bremner and William Steven also showed up very well.
Squad – Max Paul, Owen Gordon, Nathan Quinn, Niall Mackay, Ryan Sutherland, Craig Chambers, Jamie Mowat, Daniel Kirk, Campbell Morrison, William Steven, Liam Bremner, James Anderson, Michael Elder, Robbie McCoustra, Alexander Deas, Lewis Kay, Blair Marks, Jordan Miller, Jack Macleod, Liam Sutherland’