Highland cruised to an eight-try win at home to a limited GHK who had nothing to offer in a first half dominated by the Canal Park side.
Davie Carson’s men took full advantage of the sluggish performance of the Glasgow outfit who leaked five tries to trail 33-0 at the break.
Carson, the Highland head coach, was delighted with his team’s ability to spread the play wide, ruthlessly exposing GHK’s defensive inadequacies.
He said: “Considering this was our first game after a long break, it was an impressive show, especially as four of our tries were attributed to our two on-fire wingers Magnus Henry and Craig Findlater who each scored two tries.
“It was fine, open rugby keeping us on target for a high finish in National League One.”
Sterner test in second half
The second half was less one-sided as, inspired by a stirring half time talk from former Scotland player and GHK head coach Peter Wright, the visitors came out of their shells but were only able to score an unconverted try, whereas Highland added three more to run out worthy 52-5 winners.
The other try scorers for the home side were centre Rupeni Rokoduguni (2) and scrum half Hugo Crush, while another solid place-kicking performance from stand off Scott Fraser, yielded six conversions.
Once again the astute Carson was able to introduce a young player to the proceedings, bringing on 18-year-old Svend Pederson for the last 20 minutes where he performed with distinction in the back row.
Orkney into top four in National 3
In National League Three, Orkney underlined their determination to make waves in the division, moving smoothly into contention for a top four place at the expense of Murrayfield Wanderers who were gallant 35-24 losers at Pickaquoy.
On a near-perfect day, the islanders fielded a full-strength team, although many of them were suffering from the flu, winning their coach’s appreciation.
Orkney head coach Derek Robb said: “The fact they turned out to play, speaks volumes about their commitment to the team.
2I am absolutely delighted with their efforts. I just hope they recover in time for next week’s game away to Strathmore.”
Orkney owed much to the all-round kicking skills of stand off Connor Hancock who converted all five of the home tries, while pivotal to the home attack.
The islanders led 21-19 at half time but pulled away in the second period with three tries to one in an entertaining game of rugby.
The Orkney tries were attributed to William Thomson, Craig Borough (2), Neil Campbell and Scott Russell.
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