News Date 21/4/2008

Larry Graham Trophy
U17 Match

Saturday, 19th April 2008

Highland 31 Ross Sutherland 0

Highland, playing with a stiff breeze, blew away their opponents in a twenty minute period in the first-half playing some excellent attacking rugby. From then on and especially in the second-half they got bogged down in an arm wrestle with their opponents who wanted to deny the fast Highland backs decent ball.

Highland did well to keep the score to nil and were unlucky not to put more points on the board and considering the scratch nature of the team everybody played their part in the win.
The one down point in the win was the nasty facial injury sustained by U16 player Shaun Mackintosh in the first half and we wish him a speedy recovery. The other U16 players Jamie Wardlaw, Gary McKenzie, Ruaridh Macdonald, James Munro all stepped up and played very well. Shaun was having a very good game until he had to come off mid-way through the first half.

Tries were scored by Rory Cross, Lewis Higgins, Gregor Riggs, Craig Irvine and Neil Hemingway with 3 conversions added by Craig Irvine.

Squad: Lewis Fowler, Jamie Wardlaw, Tommy McKeith, Rory Cross, Neil Hemingway, Craig Irvine, Ruaridh MacDonald, Craig McDermott, Stefan Hunter, Alex Plommer, Gregor Riggs, Robbie Beaton, Shaun Mackintosh, Andrew Findlater, Lewis Higgins, Gary Mckenzie, James Munro, Stuart MacDonald.

News Date 28/10/2007

John Lewis Cup U16 Division 2 North
Nairn Academy 12 Highland 14

Nairn - Sunday, 28th October 2007

A well fought derby game saw Highland win by two points. Highland started well with the forwards containing Nairn near the halfway line and after some minor changes to the back-row and the backs a well balanced game was played.

Nairn broke through the Highland forwards twice despite some good defensive work from Highland and managed to score two tries with one converted which saw us going in at halftime 12-0 down.

At the start of the second half neither side found their way until a break from Jamie Wardlaw in his first game saw him run half the pitch only to be caught five metres from the try line. Unfortunately Jamie sustained injury and had to be taken off. The Highland Forwards kept the pressure on and this saw Jon McDonald in a maul score a good try which was converted by Sean Mackintosh.

At the restart after some to and fro Highland again broke through the line this time with Jamie Munro who ran half the pitch and after a nifty shuffle to avoid the pursuing Nairn winger scored under the posts. This was converted with another good kick from Sean Mackintosh. This gave Highland the lead 14-12 and managed to contain Nairn for the final seven minutes to win by the two points.

A good game for the Under-16's with things still to work on. Well done to them with a special mention to the three Under-15 players who played well for us today in the front-row, Jordan McCann, Eric Peters and Ali Hesling. Also the Under-16 coaches would like to thank all the parents who helped by providing transport to Nairn, it is much appreciated. We look forward to the 11th when we play Aberdeenshire at home.

News Date 16/6/2007:

Larry Graham Trophy - U16's
Highland 48 Ross Sutherland 0
Sunday, 3rd June 2007
Canal Park, Inverness

Highland won the Larry Graham trophy in sodden conditions on Sunday, 3rd June at Canal Park by outplaying a game and stuffy Ross Sutherland side. Credit must be given to both sides as the options were always to run with the ball rather than kick.
Highland played some super rugby in the wet conditions and ran over the try line 8 times without reply with Robbie Beaton getting his first ever try and Neil Duff and Andrew Findlater getting their first tries of this long season.

Ranald Graham presented the trophy to Gary Mackenzie the Highland captain before both sides went upstairs to the clubhouse for some welcome soup and sandwiches.

The photo is from the Highland News, 16/6/2007.