McLaren makeover takes Caley to late victory in the valleys

JAMES McLaren was the heroic villain as Caley claimed their most important victory in Welsh/Scottish League history yesterday. With Llanelli threatening to deny them a rare and prized away success, the powerful Scotland centre showed off his all-round skills by slotting an opportunist drop-goal.

Having toiled for so long to earn that elusive success on Principality soil, Richie Dixon's side are now in with a real shout of competing for the title. They may have no chance of reaching the knock-out rounds of the Heineken Cup, but on this form and with matches against Pontypridd and Leicester looming, they will surely have a say in who does go through.

Glasgow had the wind in the first half on a soft Stradey Park and dominated both territory and possession. But all they had to show for their efforts was a converted touchdown by flanker Gordon Simpson and a penalty by Tommy Hayes.

The Scarlets started nervously, losing vital possession with clumsy handling, and getting two lineout throws pinched by impressive Reds second-row Jason White.

White was to the fore in the game's opening try, making ground from inside his own half before flicking the ball to No 8 Jon Petrie.

Halfback Andy Nicol secured quick ball from the ensuing ruck and passed wide to the ever-alert Gordon Simpson, who dotted down in the corner. Cook Islands international Hayes, who was having a superb game at fly-half for Caley, converted from the touchline to give his side a well-deserved 7-0 lead.

With the wind at their backs, and big international centre McLaren making half-breaks almost at will, Glasgow continued to apply the pressure.

Hayes chipped through for wing Shaun Longstaff, but Llanelli's Mark Jones just won the dramatic race to get the first crucial touch of the ball.

The pressure told in the 27th minute, with Hayes extending the lead to 10-0 with a well-executed penalty goal.

The Scarlets were playing poorly, and the Stradey Park crowd told them as much, slow-clapping their beloved team.

The reaction seemed to give them the jolt they needed, however, and they embarked on a furious 50-metre attack, with No 8 Scott Quinnell and prop Martyn Madden to the fore.

Glasgow wilted and were forced to concede a penalty from an easy position which was a formality for fly-half Stephen Jones.

Jones had three other shots at goal in the half - all into the stiff wind, but also all straightforward for such an accomplished kicker. All flew wide, however.

An all-out brawl on the stroke of half time in the wake of some vigorous Llanelli rucking showed the home fans that the Scarlets had found some passion.

And there were more cheers when McLaren was ordered to the sin- bin for punching an opponent.

While Caley had enjoyed almost complete control, the big question was: did they have enough points in the bag to go on and complete the job? The answer was positive, although they did have to survive several nasty moments as Llanelli came back strongly.

Crucially, however, they failed to take advantage of the extra man, and went further behind when Hayes slotted his second penalty goal in the 48th minute after centre Neil Boobyer failed to release the ball in the tackle.

The three-pointer woke Llanelli from their torpor, and the crowd were roaring again when wing Mark Jones touched down in the corner, only for referee Clayton Thomas to rule a forward pass a few seconds earlier.

Then the inspirational Quinnell set Reds' alarm bells ringing when he received the ball on the halfway line and punched through several tackles before linking with half Stephen Jones, who strolled in for a try under the posts.

He converted it himself to reduce the gap to just three and set up a tension-packed finale. But McLaren had the last word with his opportunist drop - which more than made up for his previous indiscretion.

Coach Dixon couldn't disguise his delight afterwards saying: "We have been due a result like this for a long time now. It might have happened at Pontypridd a few weeks ago but the match was abandoned at half-time when we were in control. We also set ourselves up for a win at Neath last month, only to lose out in the last few minutes.

"The victory is no more than the lads deserve. They have worked extremely hard for it and we can look forward to the rest of the campaign with increased confidence.

"The great thing is that we have broken the pattern of not being able to beat the major Welsh teams away from home. Now that we have done it, there is no reason why we can't go on to do it again and again."

On the down-side, Caley's fixture log-jam could become even more serious if Newport call off the league match between the sides a fortnight on Saturday.

The Black and Ambers look certain to have five players involved in the World Cup Sevens in Argentina - and are likely to be given special dispensation to have a blank weekend.

Reds have up to four games in hand in relation to some of their rivals and could be heading for a hectic end-of-season schedule.

Ironically, McLaren's clincher came less than 24 hours after David Officer had emerged as an equally unlikely hero with his first drop- goal at league level.

The Scotland A centre's effort cleared the bar by just a couple of inches - but it helped to clinch a vital 17-15 victory for Edinburgh Reivers against star-studded Newport at Myreside.

Now Officer and Co head for Dublin in good heart to face Leinster in this weekend's make-or-break Heineken Cup encounter.

Officer admitted: "The only way to describe the kick was drunken. The ball was wobbling around all over the place, but thankfully it just had enough momentum to make it over." Llanelli 10 Glasgow Caleys 16

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