Caithness coach keen to hear about referee’s thought process after gritty encounter
Saturday’s Caley 1 North Conference clash between Caithness and Aberdeenshire was not one which would have won any converts to the game from first-time viewers.
Open, attacking flourishes were seen only in flashes with the game resembling a team arm-wrestle, with grit and grind the standout qualities of both sets of combatants.
It could well have produced more scrums than any other fixture in the country, with Shire’s dominance in that phase pivotal to their 19-12 win.
The set-piece proved hugely controversial, with Caithness skipper Cole Wilson and the rest of his pack apoplectic at referee Ewan Scott’s policing of it.
From the touchline, it seemed that the visiting tighthead was regularly illegally boring in and causing the scrum to end up askew.
Head coach Cameron Boyd had a long chat with the referee after the final whistle when he made clear his displeasure at how his side had been treated.
Boyd was diplomatic in his post-game comments.
He said: “I was just keen to ask the ref about his thought process and why he didn’t penalise the Aberdeenshire scrum the way it was going.
“He said that as long as you start to go forward, you can basically do what you want. I would be really interested to see another ref’s take on that.”
The visitors’ advantage was such that they opted to scrum just about every time they won a penalty. “The way the ref was seeing it, why wouldn't you?” offered Boyd.
The Greens’ performance at the set-piece was hit early on when loosehead prop Mark Nicolson had to retire after being kneed in the face. He was subsequently found to have fractured an orbital bone.
Boyd was keen not to use the scrum shenanigans as an excuse for not coming out on top.
“The scrum turned out to be a big part of their game, but we didn’t lose because of the scrum,” he said. “We had three or four opportunities in the red zone that we didn’t convert.”
Contrasting the display with the 88-0 defeat the Greens suffered away to Shire, Boyd was delighted with improvements there had been across the board.
He thought the lineout defence was much better, as was their competition at the breakdown and their first-up tackling.
“I thought we matched them physically until deep in the second half when some of our guys ran out of steam,” he said.
“Some of our forwards really stepped up their carrying game and it was great to see how well Shane Campbell played on the wing in his first game for us in a long time.”
Developing the depth of the squad and improving fitness levels are Boyd’s priorities for the future.
In the meantime, he is focused on keeping his troops in shape until their final match, a possible relegation dogfight with North Police on April 5.