Alloa RFC 1st XV..............25
Caithness RFC 1st XV......15

Report by Gary McPhail


ALLOA saw off Caithness in the first ever fixture between the clubs in the first round of the BT Caledonia Shield last Saturday.

This match could never have been classed as a local derby given the respective teams reside at opposite ends of Caledonia.

It was the home side who kicked off on a beautiful, sunlit autumn day at Earlsfield hoping to take advantage of the Thurso side still reeling from having some of the fiver-hour journey in their legs.

The opening exchanges were fairly even; however, it was the visitors who struck first after 10 minutes with a brilliant blindside snipe by their scrum-half, who showed the despairing Alloa defence a clean pair of heels running in from the half way line.

This early lead was short lived, though, as Alloa were level five minutes later when Michael Doig crashed over following a series of drives near the Caithness line. Lee Cairney’s conversion gave Alloa the lead. 

There followed plenty of endeavour and enterprise from both sides with Alloa just edging the territorial advantage, but a number of handling errors in open play meant Alloa were still just hanging on to a two-point advantage.

As the interval approached, the hosts were awarded two kickable penalties in quick succession but decided to turn them down in an effort to secure a second try and their bravery was rewarded.

Again it was the Alloa pack that did the hard yards but it was the brilliant angle taken by centre Kris Aitken that unlocked the Caithness defence. Lee Cairney slotted the conversion to make the half-time score 14-5.

The home side were back asking questions within minutes of the restart and were in a great position to score from a scrum close to the Caithness line only to be penalised for a technical infringement. 

The game then swung Caithness’ way when firstly they slotted a penalty and then took advantage of turnover ball as Alloa unwisely tried to attack from under the shadow of their own posts. The resulting try and conversion edged Caithness 14-15 ahead.

The visitors have been consistently one of the top teams in Caledonia One in the previous seasons and are the current early season league leaders and things began to look a little bleak for Alloa as their line-out and drive began to click. 

However, the home side weathered the storm and turned to the immense ball-carrying qualities of Rab Truesdale and Graeme Ross.

Although both players were playing out of position in the back row, Caithness started to struggle with the sheer power of their direct running and two penalties were won that Lee Cairney duly slotted over.

With a 20-15 lead, Alloa were playing a tight, sensible game drawing a string of penalties from their tiring opponents as the clock ticked down. 

There was a feeling of déjà vu at this point in that they had been in this position against Gordonians at the same stage of this competition last term only to lose from the last play of the match.

Any potential nerves were soothed, though, when the ball was moved out the backline to Ed Waller with five minutes left of play.

The young centre broke made a great break and ran round the remaining defenders for a superb try for what proved to be the final score of the day in what was an excellent physical contest between two very committed sides.

It was difficult to pick out an individual in an excellent team display, but scrum-half Martin McKenzie was deservedly given the J&M Builders man-of-the-match award.

The local side return to league business this weekend with a visit to Carnoustie (3pm kick-off).