Moray Rugby Club finish Caledonia North Conference campaign with victory over Caithness
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Moray made the long trip north to Thurso to play Caithness in their final fixture in Caledonia League 1, and came away with a narrow 33-31 victory.
Caithness kicked off and were quickly off the mark, catching the visitors cold. With only a quarter of the game gone Moray found themselves 19-0 down following tries by the home side’s fullback, scrum half and wing three quarter. Two of the tries were converted.
This was down to some lacklustre Moray defence in the face of a big, hard-running Caithness forward pack.
It looked like it was going to be a tough afternoon for the visitors but, as always, this Moray side fought back and in the 25th minute some slick interpassing between backs and forwards saw club captain Lewis Scott dot down for a try converted by full-back Rory Millar for 19-7.
In the 36th minute a penalty took Moray to a line-out close to their opponents try line. The ball was secured and centre Connor McWilliam cut a perfect angle to score under the posts. The simple conversion made the score 19-14 and this was the half time score.
The second half remained stalemate until the 65th minute when Moray stole the ball at a line-out and spread it wide for Millar to score in the corner, making it 19-19.
The visitors were now in the ascendancy, putting their opponents under pressure at a line-out near the home goal line. A wild tap back was pounced on by lock Jake Devlin for the bonus point try, converted by Millar for 19-26.
Five minutes from full time another stolen line-out ball allowed centre Cameron Hughes in for Moray’s fifth try. Millar’s conversion made the score 19-33 and it looked like the visitors were home and dry.
Caithness had other plans however and they rallied to score two tries in the last four minutes. With one of these converted it made for a nail-biting finish but Moray held on for a 33-31 success.
It had been yet another gutsy performance by the 'never say die' men from Morriston.
Moray’s next match is a home quarter-final tie in the National Shield competition against Ardrossan Academicals RFC on Saturday March 23 at 3pm.
