Artificial surface at Canal Park could give Highland Rugby Club advantage over National One rivals
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Although rugby stopped over recent weeks for their winter break, the sport has already felt the effects of freezing conditions.
Just three matches were able to be played across the last two rounds of National One fixtures, one of which was Highland's home 58–15 victory over Aberdeen Grammar.
Their scheduled final match of 2022, away at Dundee, was postponed the following week in what every team will hope is not a recurring theme in the new year.
If more matches do get called off, though, Dave Carson believes it could play into Highland Rugby Club's hands.
Having already shown that Canal Park is capable of hosting matches when most others are off, thanks in large part to the artificial surface in Inverness, Highland could have the chance to put points on the board while other teams face a fixture pile-up.
GHK will be the visitors to Canal Park this weekend, and if it does turn out to be the case that Highland play when others do not, it could give them the chance to move up the standings – at least temporarily – considering they are only one point behind Gala.
"Luckily we've got the 4G pitch, only two games in our league that weekend was on, ourselves and Stirling – even all of the Premiership was off," Highland head coach Dave Carson recalled from the win over Grammar.
"We're lucky to have a pitch that we can make use of, and we've certainly looked to put kilometres on the track in training to keep the fitness up and plan ahead for the games coming up.
"We might have the chance to put points on the board instead of waiting for games to happen.
"It keeps momentum going for the players too when you're playing week in, week out and not taking three or four weeks off because of the weather.
"Our first game back after the new year is at home, so hopefully with the 4G we'll get games on when other sides are off."
