It was less a lack of preparation than cup final nerves that probably cost Glenrothes their chance of winning the RBS SRU Bowl on finals day at Broadwood on Saturday.
Called into the first final in their 49-year history on 37 hours’ notice after original finalists St Boswells were thrown out for breaking eligibility rules in five games, the Fifers looked as good as Highland for a large portion of the final on a glorious day on the fast, pristine plastic pitch in Cumbernauld.
Sadly that portion was the last 35 minutes, and in the first 45 the Inverness club were too good and had three tries and a 19-0 lead, eventually completing a 26-12 victory that no one could argue with.
“We’d really like to say something bad about Highland but we can’t. They were clearly the better side,” admitted Glens head coach Tom Hainey after a final full of aggression refereed outstandingly well by Mike Adamson, the Scotland 7s cap being fast-tracked through the ranks.
Glenrothes had been preparing for a big game on the weekend, most likely the final it was fairly clear St Boswells’ 11th-hour appeal would fail or a promotion play-off against Ellon, so Hainey was happy that his team were as ready as they could be.
“I’d certainly much prefer to have a week to get ready and to be here today than three weeks to get ready and not be here,” he said.
“It’s the club’s first final the year before our 50th anniversary season and I’m proud of the lads. There was nothing between the teams for much of the second half,” he said.
“However, we took a long time to get started. Highland were clearly the better team over the piece, and although we didn’t get much time to practice on a synthetic surface, we were as ready as we could be.
“The only thing was we had some video of them showing what they could do in attack but we didn’t know just how dynamic and aggressive they were defensively, and we had no room or time to play the game we wanted to in the first 50 minutes.”
Highland’s transformation just a season after they were in apparent disarray and relegated from Caledonia Division One in a play-off has been remarkable. This was their 25th win out of 25 in all competitions this season and they have scored well over 1,000 points, while conceding just 78.
Tries from Darren MacLeod, Tam Macgowan and Richard Sim had them in control, and although Cameron Goodall and Daryl Warrender scored good tries for Glens in the second half, the Northerners had plenty in hand.
For Glens, the season is not over with that play-off against Ellon to get back into Caledonia One to come, and there was plenty of encouragement for Hainey.
“I think the way we adjusted to Highland was a good example of how fast we’re developing,” he said. “We had a three-year plan after coming down from Caley One a couple of seasons ago and we’ve reached play-offs to get back twice now.
“The plan is to build a club again, developing youth players for the first team, and augmenting them with experienced guys who’ve come back to us like Cammy Goodall, Barry Crookston and Kenny Christie. We can’t live for the old days when Paxton and McIvor played for us.
“We have to look ahead to the future and we want the kids in our minis and midis looking up to the current team.”
The total attendance of well under 4,000 for finals day at Broadwood was a little disappointing, with the largest contingent of fans on the day admirably following Caithness to see their side lose the Shield final to Preston Lodge.
The crowd had thinned out for the main final, in which former Dundee High players faced off with Cammy Ferguson and Colin Goudie featuring for Heriot’s against Andy Linton and Jack Steele for Glasgow Hawks.
Goudie and Ferguson ended up the victors, their slick combination midway through the first half creating a peach of a try for wing Harry Boisseau, although it wasn’t until two further tries in the last 10 minutes that the Nails secured their third cup victory, 31-10, to go with the triumphs of 2003 and 2009.