Orkney RFC beat Hillfoots in Scottish Cup cliffhanger

Orkney 16, Hillfoots 12

Robert Leslie (Orkney Today)

ORKNEY Rugby Club pulled off a magnificent giant-killing win in the third round of the Scottish Cup at Pickaquoy on Saturday afternoon, coming back from 12-0 down against Division 1 side Hillfoots to win 16-12.

Two tries from Hillfoots outside centre George McGuire, one of them converted by stand off Andrew Hamilton, had given the visitors the lead at half time.

However, ten minutes into the second half Orkney pressure paid off as Adam Towrie went over after a well worked move, a finely timed offload from Rodney Spence putting the Sanday flier over, and James Linklater adding the conversion.

And it was the boot of Linklater that did the rest of the damage, pulling back and then overhauling the Hillfoots lead, with excellent forward play in scrum and lineout providing the platform for three brilliantly taken drop goals.

The second of these came with only four minutes to go, taking the score to 13-12 to Orkney, and a nervy countdown to the final whistle ensued. However, another great take from the lineout by Steven Paterson at No8 saw Linklater kick from around 35 metres out to sew up the win at 16-12.

A great win then, to warm the hearts of the frozen home support around the Pickaquoy for this Orkney Today-sponsored cup game.

A delighted Orkney Rugby Club president Andy McGinn said: "This is an absolutely excellent result for Orkney, they really pulled out all the stops this afternoon. We'll be hoping for a home draw now in the next round."