Tayside Girls Win National Shield Final

At 11am on under the glorious sunshine at DAM Health Stadium, Tayside v Caithness kicked off as the sides faced off for the U16 Girls Shield title.

Tayside came close to scoring in the opening minutes of the game, however a penalty awarded to Caithness just meters from the try line closed that initial opportunity.

The following 10 minutes of the match saw both sides work really hard to make ground as possession switched hands numerous times.

But it wasn’t before long that the first points of the day would be recorded. With Tayside in possession, winger Caitlan Sandilands made a speedy sprint along the right wing, before offloading the ball to her team-mate Rowan MacGugan. Quick thinking from the full-back to offload the ball to Grace Fraser allowed the stand-off to dot the ball down across the line (5-0)

Some moments later Tayside added a second score! Utilising their strong forward pack, Tayside were able to charge their way along the left-hand wing for Jocelyn Norrie, who had come onto the field to replace team-mate Eva Finnie just moments before, to cross the whitewash. Scrum-half Niamh O’Reilly added the extras (12-0).

A third score was added at 21 minutes by Tayside through full-back MacGugan, who stormed her way through the Caithness defence for what would eventually be try number one of four (17-0).

However, Caithness were still more than up for the fight! Utilising offload passes in contact, the girls in green did a fantastic job keeping the ball alive whilst making ground. As they entered their opposition’s 22, with the crowd spurring them on, a determined Caithness edged their way closer to the try line.

With just one minute left on the clock full-back, Laena Munro managed to bag Caithness’ first try of the game, with Captain Tamzin Rosie adding the extras. (17-7)

Half time score: Tayside 17 Caithness 7

The opening ten minutes once again saw both teams enjoy strong phases of attack, but it was Tayside who would restart the scoring. Dodging the defence with her fancy foot work, MacGugan crossed the line to take the score to 22-7.

And it wasn’t before long that the full-back was contributing more points to the board as MacGuagn not only bagged herself a hat-trick, but converted her own try. (29-7)

Caithness were eager to respond, and did so with just seven minutes left on the clock. After referee Gordon Galashan awarded Caithness a penalty on Tayside’s 10-meter line, a quick tap-and-go with Rosie found a gap in the Tayside defence to dive across the line, taking the score to 29-12.

But Tayside were not done, despite Caithness’ best efforts to defend their try line Morag Strang extended Tayside’s lead with their sixth try of the game (34-12), and MacGuagn closed the game by converting her fourth personal try of the match.