National League Cup Final:
GHK 24 - 26 Highland
SEAN BLACK (The Offside Line) @ Scottish Gas Murrayfield
HIGHLAND won an enthralling and captivating tussle against GHK to bring the National League Cup up the A9 to Inverness. The National League Two rivals had two close matches during the league season, and it was more of the same on Silver Saturday as Highland dug deep to claim victory, with captain Scott Fraser, in his 200th game for the club, kicking a late conversion to secure the win.
Highland head coach Davie Carson was full of praise for his team afterwards. “We had 22 quality players and chucked them on, one scored the try, and the cool as a cucumber captain courageous, 200 caps, just knocks it over to get the win,” he beamed.
For his part, Fraser downplayed the pivotal moment of the game. “I suppose it’s a bit cliche, but you’ve kind of got to treat it like every other one, and then I think when you’re really, really dialled in and focused, like you have to be for a kick like that, sometimes it makes it a bit easier to just get rid of that process. And yeah, what a relief!”
GHK coach Cammy Little was positive despite the result. “We’ve had three good games against Highland. There was the one up there a few weeks ago where we beat them in Inverness and it was 48-40 and that was a cracking game as well… it’s been a great season. The club’s been in decent health this year. We’ve had a lot of people coming along, getting involved, playing in the 2nd XV who had a good season as well.”
The National Two champions GHK started brightly and despite missing touch with an early penalty, they were first on the scoreboard when James Tweedie raced in behind his opposite winger to gather a grubber kick from full-back Charlie Greaves for his first try of the day.
Highland looked to respond and their aggressive defence and tenacious work at the breakdown saw much of the opening stages of the game played in the GHK half. The Inverness side were unlucky not to score in the left corner but good scramble defence from GHK saw full-back Dan Corr Seumas Ross bundled out of the in-goal area before he could ground the ball.
As the pressure from Highland continued to build, so did the penalty count against the GHK, and at the end of the game, they had conceded 14 penalties. Hooker Finlay Wiseman was sent to the sin-bin after 14 minutes for a cynical infringement 10 metres from his own line and Highland took advantage immediately. From the resulting line-out, their rolling maul splintered the GHK defence and Freddie Riddle Gordon Gregor crossed for their opening score.
GHK were unable to gain any momentum and continually found themselves pinned back in their own half. They were perhaps fortunate not to concede a penalty try on the 25 minute mark when Greaves committed a deliberate knock-on as the last defender on the right wing, however the officials decided it only merited the penalty and yellow card.
Despite having an extra man for 20 minutes of the half, Highland were unable to add a second score and were made to pay for their inaccuracy as half-time approached. GHK worked their way into the Highland 22 and after back-to-back penalties, outside centre Fraser Stanier spun out a tackle to touch down. A second successful conversion from GHK captain Callum Busby made the score 14-5 at the break.
GHK were fast out the blocks to start the second half. A lovely set play off a midfield scrum gave Tweedie a rare chance to attack with the ball in hand down the left wing. After two quick rucks, scrum-half Ben Frame spotted space in the Highland backfield and Tweedie, once again, was quickest to react to the kick to score his second try of the game.
Backed by a sizeable and vocal support, Highland responded with two quick tries to level the contest. First to score was scrum-half Hugo Crush who took a quick tap-penalty on the halfway line and scythed straight through the GHK defence to dive under the posts.
Then, after another attack brought them to within metres of the GHK line, Corr was fastest to react to a loose ball at the base of a ruck to get over the try-line for the match-levelling score.
GHK wrestled back the lead almost immediately, Stanier scoring a wonderful individual effort after evading three despairing tacklers to dot down in the left corner. The conversion from Busby was missed, as was a long penalty five minutes layer, meaning the lead was five points with 15 minutes to play.
Back came Highland once more. After working their way down into the GHK 22, Fraser delivered a fantastic cross-field kick to find Josh Talbot-Heigh on the wing, who managed to wrestle his way over the line to ground the ball.
Despite the wide angle and jeers from the GHK fans, Fraser slotted the conversion to give Highland their first lead of the day with just six minutes remaining.
As time ticked down, GHK were unable to work their way into the opposition half to give themselves a late opportunity to steal the win.
Highland did well to keep the ball in their big, industrious forwards and eventually won a penalty as the 80-minute mark passed which Fraser thumped long into the West Stand to the jubilation of the Highland players, coaching staff and supporters.
Teams –
GHK: C Greaves; J Tweedie, F Stanier, Jamie Blair, B Hutton; C Busby (C), B Frame; P Henderson, F Wiseman, L Rowland; L Findlay, D Eakin, H Winning, C Moglia, H Sykes. Subs used: E Smith, A Lennox, M Preston, G McKirdy, H Parker, A Kennedy, H Bottomley.
Highland: D Corr; R Rokoduguni, S Ross, James Blair, M Henry; S Fraser (C), H Crush; O Smith, F Riddle, M Paterson; T Smith, O McDonald, S Dale Pedersen, C Gregor, R Thomson. Subs used: T Reid, C Ross, C MacPherson, E Milton, C Grant, A Muritoki, J Talbot-Heigh.
Referee: Euan Maguire
Scorers –
GHK: Tries: Tweedie 2, Stanier 2; Cons: Busby 2.
Highland: Tries: Gregor, Crush, Corr, Talbot-Heigh; Cons: Fraser 3.
Scoring sequence (GHK first): 5-0; 7-0; 7-5; 12-5; 14-5 (h-t) 19-5; 19-10; 19-12; 19-17; 19-19; 24-19; 24-24; 24-26.
Yellow cards –
GHK: Wiseman, Greaves
Player of the Match: Adriu Muritoki (Highland) - Adriu only came into the game as a 2nd half substitute but made an immediate impact bringing urgency and pace to the Highland attack.
