Solid performance despite lacking a full squad.

Wands travelled to Inverness with just 15 x players as unfortunately we had a couple of last minute call-offs.
Regardless we initially played 15 a side to minimise any non playing time for subs after the long bus trip North.
Highland did agree to potentially supply us a couple of players if needed, so Josh and Fergus took up the flanker positions.
We played 4 quarters (allegedly of 15 mins ,but in reality turned out to be a lot longer).
In the first quarter, we received and after turning the ball over, we got it back and some strong running saw Sam Smith run in our first try. We played on a full pitch with a strong breeze/ Cam made a good effort but his kick fell just short, 0-3. Highland responded pretty quickly and also missed their conversion, 3-3.
The rest of the quarter saw Wands perform some strong tackling and dominate the scoring. Craig went on a burst through their defence to score near the posts with Fin M converting, 3-7.
Fergus then collected a kick and ran in with Cam converting, 3-11. Craig then scored his second of the quarter bursting through a couple of tackles to score with Cam converting, 3-15.

The second quarter was a more even affair, perhaps down to a bit of tiredness within Wands due to a lack of subs. The scoring pretty much went back and forth in this period. Highland scored without converting, with Sam Smith getting his second score, Cam missing the conversion, 6-18. Highland scored again, only for Fergus to grab his second, streaking away down the right flank before cutting in under the posts with Fin M converting, 9 - 22. Sam Smith then escaped a couple of tackles to score in the corner with the conversion missed. This was sandwiched between 2 Highland unconverted tries to leave the half time score as 15-25 to Wands. Matthew who had been playing well in this period with a couple of good carries on the wing, unfortunately got a thumb injury and couldn't continue, so we borrowed a Highland player. However, at the end of the half, Craig took a minor knock to the head and was removed from the match as a precaution. With us down to 13, our lads asked that we played on as 13 a side as they didn't want Highland help.
Fergus came out of flanker to outside centre for Craig and Josh moved to right wing to replace Matthew.
The 3rd period saw a rejuvenated Wands hit the field, must have been all the Haribo sweets Sam Smith took along for the team!
We received the ball at the start of the 3rd period and after some good play, Josh scored his first try of the match, cam missed the conversion, 15-28. Cam then scored a beauty as he ran across the defensive line with the defensive cover watching the wings, he chipped over the defence and collected the ball before running in under the posts, converting his own try, 15-32. He then made it two tries in almost as many minutes repeating the trick, this time chipping over then hacking on, the ball popping up to him close to the line, Fin M converted, 15-36. Fergus then got in on the act, intercepting a pass and running it back under the posts with Cam converting, 15-40. Cam then rounded off the scoring for the quarter scoring his 3rd try with Fergus converting, 15-44. We shut Highland out in this quarter with some excellent defence typified by Sam Smith winning turnovers from tackling the Highland Front Row player at the restart.

Disappointingly, as with the last match, tempers started to fray a bit during the 4th quarter, and as the match dragged on a lot longer than scheduled, Highland actually outscored Wands during this last quarter. However despite the lack of subs and elongated play time, Wands did continue to play some good rugby with Josh grabbing his second try, converted by Fin M between two highland tries(one converted). 22-48, Sam Smith then got his 4th of the match outpacing the defence down the left and running near the posts to score with Fergus converting before they got one more unconverted try to leave the score 25-52 to Wands.
Honourable mentions go to: Cam for performing a textbook dominant tackle near our own goal line, perhaps spurned on from being on the receiving end of a late tackle in the previous phase.
Flynn Rasmussen showing what rugby is all about, burst nose, run to sideline, ram some bandage up there, run back on and win a scrum against the head.
Unfortunately, there was a bit of an unsavoury end to the match after such a close and physical contest where some players couldn’t keep a lid on their frustrations in the tunnel.
This resulted in both teams getting a bit heated and coaches speaking to both sets of players to undermine the importance of the principle of respecting your opponent and leaving any such niggles on the pitch.
Man of the match playing at inside centre was Sam Smith, 4 tries and dominant defensively.
The boys put in a huge shift with no subs so well over an hour, suspect they all slept well sunday night ?. Good day out and a good result. Need to work on not speaking back to the referee even if you don't like their decisions.