CALEDONIA LEAGUES

Highland underlined their stated intent of reaching the national leagues with an emphatic 106-0, 16-try win away to bottom side Mackie FPs who, on this form, look set to exit Caledonia 1 at the end of the season.

The beleaguered Redcloak side had no answer to the Canal Park men who were at their clinical best in running up 106 points, made up of 16 touchdowns, 13 of which were converted by stand off Rory Carson, making his first appearance in the position and marking the occasion with a late try.

But once again it was former Edinburgh Accies player Andrew Findlater who caught the eye in the back row with an athletic and imaginative display, scoring the first two tries to set the tone for the afternoon before going on to lead his team-mates to a 47-0 lead at the interval. He completed his hat-trick in the second half.

Highland coach Davie Carson was pleased by his side’s excellent support play and finishing.

“Wewerenever extended but it was a good opportunity to give our young players, including Rory Carson, a warm up for the game away against Glenrothes, who are going great guns since losing to Gordonians,” said Carson.

Not to be outdone, the Countesswells side bounced back to form at home, smashing the challenge of lowly Hillfoots 116-5, while Glenrothes, the surprise team of the campaign, were impressive 51-5 winners at Carnoustie.

RAF Lossiemouth were 22-16 victors against Dunfermline in a much more competitive game, as was the case atMillbank where Caithness eased past Strathmore 23-11.

Deeside look to be in a class of their own in Caledonia 2 North, extending their unbeaten record to eight games after beating Moray 36-7 in Elgin.

Second- placed Ross Sutherland won 47- 8 at home to Kinloss Eagles while, in the bottom-of-thetable game at Fort William, Lochaber leapfrogged Ellon after a 32-0 win.

In the surprise of the day in Caledonia 3North, Banff upset Aberdeen University Medics at Balgownie with a narrow 8-5 win.

The result enabled AberdeenUniversity to rise to the top of the division after they recorded a 36-5 victory at Countesswells against Gordonians 2nds.

Photograph: Kevin Emslie ON THE MOVE: Highland’s Nathan McLaughlan bursts through the Mackie defence at Stonehaven.