Picky - Saturday 8th December, 2012
Orkney RFC 13, Highland RFC 0
It’s matches like this one that make a difference at the end of the season, and this particular victory - by 13-0 over Highland - lifted Orkney to fifth in the league and gave them their fourth win in a row going into the festive break.
Although Orkney continued to have most of the possession, the score remained the same up to the turnaround, with the only talking point being a bit of a touchline fracas that led to the double sin-binning of Steven Groat and one of his Highland opponents. Their 10-minutes off the pitch straddled the half-time break.
Orkney were back on the front foot early in the second half but Chris Guthrie was stopped as he attempted to go for the line from the back of a scrum five metres out, and then Orkney went a man down as Neil McCartney saw yellow for an uncharacteristic piece of indiscipline.
The match continued to swing back and fore in midfield, with the odd chance for Orkney being snuffed out by determined defence from Highland and the crowd on the touchline were beginning to talk about a late comeback from the visitors.
That was killed off with around 10 minutes to go however, with a break up the left by Scott Rendall eventually seeing Philip Ross cross the line for another unconverted try to make it 13-0 to Orkney.
No bonus-point win this weekend then, but a welcome victory after a hard-fought home match and a good enough way to round off 2012.
Orkney can now rest and recover and - mindful of the fact that they’ve played a couple more matches than the four teams within sniping distance of them - prepare to continue their winning ways at the start of 2013, when the first visitors are due to be Hillfoots on Saturday, January 19.
Robert Leslie