Linlithgow .................................. 38
Highland .................................... 29

The lads from Inverness requested an early kick-off at 1pm and with Linlithgow hosting a barbeque the request fitted nicely, and the weather seemed to agree. Highland were missing a few of their older heads but the Reds had a full squad.

If ever there was a ''game of two halves'' this was it, and Linlithgow put on their best first half performance this year starting with a flurry of passes that sent Graham McKenzie over the line after four minutes.

Five minutes later a chip from Matt Dixon from just outside the 22 saw winger Andy Birrell gather the ball to slide in at the corner, Dixon converting from the touchline. The Reds pack won a lot of ball and when prop Billy Edment broke through the centre his pass to lock Stu Jamieson out on the right wing saw the big man just brush away would-be tacklers then run round to touch down at the posts, allowing Dixon a easy conversion.

The fourth, and bonus try, came from a move right off the training ground with Andy Birrell coming off the wing at pace, slicing through the opposing centres from 30 yards out to score next to the posts, again converted. Highland started to waken up and their young winger, Craig Findlater, showed his speed and scored against the run of play, Bayor adding the conversion. Dixon retired with a recurring hamstring problem and the backs line was re-jigged but that didn't stop Andy Birrell running in his third try on the right wing, McDavid converting. Some weird decisions by the referee allowed Highland to slot a penalty and Findlater slipped his cover to score his second try in injury time, the conversion being a formality.

The Highlanders brought on some of their more experienced
forwards and when Malky Whyte went off with a neck injury the Reds found that they were not winning ball quite so easily. The young
visitors started to throw the ball about and, taking a leaf from Dixon's book, their scrum-half popped an awkward chip over the Reds defence and a horrible bounce was swept up by that lad Findlater to score his hat-trick in the left corner. Davie Syme was replaced by Colin Blair and the big, young lock came off to the applause of the crowd after his best game in a red jersey.

With 10 minutes to go and a bonus point beckoning, Highland mounted attack after attack and their Fijian centre, Epi Vichenua, made up for some earlier errors with a well taken try, again converted. That bonus point took Highland to fourth place in the league with Linlithgow finishing played 22, won 11, lost 11 and sitting, not surprisingly, mid-table.

Skipper Matt Dixon was delighted with his team's good end to the season and the coaching squad could only rue their terrible luck in mid-season when they lost 10 players to injury. This was compensated by an excellent run in the cup and the bringing forward of a lot of younger players to give a broader base to work on next year.

Reds: Dixon, Birrell, Wright, McKenzie, Cunningham, McDavid, Bredin, Edment, Dobie, Cavana, Syme, Waddell, Richardson, Jamieson, Whyte. Subs: (all used) Gordon, Blair, Walker.