JAMES Hudson and Euan Rennie were two of the stand out performers for Highland Wildcats in a disappointing 47-15 defeat at Glasgow Tigers.
The Inverness-side had an early start to make the lunchtime kick-off but failed to repeat their 48-20 win against West Coast Trojans when they visited the city last Sunday.
Wildcats’ chances of making the play-offs this season may suffer from this defeat – their fourth of loss of the campaign.
Meanwhile, the hosts moved to second in the league with their third win in a row.
The Tigers scored more points in this game than they had in all their previous games this season combined.
Defence was on top in first quarter, but the Tigers broke the deadlock early in the second period. They missed their conversion chance but lead 6-0.
Wildcats responded instantly when Hudson got the ball on kick-off return and scored an 80-yard touchdown, thanks to some fancy footwork and strong blocking from his team mates.
Martin Devlin converted to put Wildcats ahead.
Tigers bounced back with a touchdown of their own, which was converted before Wildcats’ running back Anthony Walkine-Levy scored after a 40-yard run for the visitors.
Devlin had the opportunity to restore Wildcats’ lead but his kick was blocked and Tigers soon scored another touchdown, which was converted to take a 20-13 advantage into half-time.
Wildcats rallied but fell further behind in the third quarter with another Tigers touchdown, which they failed to convert.
Tigers built on their lead with another touchdown in the fourth, but their attempt to get extra points was stopped and the ball was retrieved by Rennie who ran the full length of the pitch for two extra points for the Wildcats.
With the game beyond them, Wildcats gave match time to some of their less experienced players and unfortunately lost another touchdown and conversion, which completed the scoring.
“It was a disappointing score line and showed we have some things to work on in training this Sunday,” said Wildcats head coach Brian MacRae.
“We need to iron out the inconsistency of our results and aim for four wins out of four in the games remaining this season, starting with the trip to Clyde Valley Blackhawks on 11th July.”
