Club spirit key to Highland's dream season - Dave Carson
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THREE years, two league titles, trips to Murrayfield and a return to National League rugby. You would think Dave Carson’s highlight of his time in charge would be one of those three.
However, the Highland head coach cites the turnaround in atmosphere at the club as the thing that stands out most, now it is becoming a force to be reckoned with on the national stage once again.
An emphatic 62-19 win over Hillfoots ended Highland’s season on a high, unbeaten and deserved Caledonia One winners. They were joined in promotion-party mode by the second-string, who battered Fraserburgh 128-0 to go up as Caledonia Three champions.
For a season that has provided so much for those dedicated to the Canal Park club, they are finally seeing their reward.
“There’s been a lot of highlights but there’s been a big turnaround in the atmosphere upstairs,” said Carson, who returned as head coach three years ago. “There’s a lot of people coming week in, week out, to help out around the place and it’s great to see the club getting back to where it was.
“We’ll have a bit of respite now but the challenges ahead are fantastic. It’s going be tough against these bigger sides, which is why the seconds coming up was so important. We had a lot of guys out this weekend yet we were still able to get two strong sides out. That wouldn’t have happened a few years ago.”
The 1st XV squad that lined up on Saturday was much-changed and saw a good number of second XV regulars and some under-18s step in and stake a claim for next season. Highland started well and it did not take long for their fine handling and support work to allow Oscar Baird to touch down first soon, followed by Dave Titterington, both tries being converted by Craig Irvine and a 14-0 lead.
Hillfoots were looking to make some impact before relegation and they clawed their way back with a converted try. This sparked Highland into stepping up a gear and they ran in four tries, skipper Kevin Brown crossed, followed by a second for Titterington, and then one each for Steve Rutledge and Scott Fraser, all converted by Irvine and a lead of 42-7. Yet Hillfoots were still making their presence felt as they were awarded a penalty try after some desperate tackling by Highland that saw the half end 42-14.
At the break it looked like the game was won but Carson did not want his side to coast to the end of the game, so looked to firm up their approach at the restart. An entire quarter passed before the next scores and in a more controlled spell, Highland saw young Alex Murray touch down followed by Rutledge’s second, with one conversion by Irvine.
Hillfoots kept battling away and their forwards drove over for an unconverted try and 54-19. Fittingly Highland had the final word when Baird finished as he had started and on the final whistle, his try, converted by Irvine, ended the game at
61-19.
They came off the park to the news that the 2nd XV had run away with their final game with a 135-0 win over Fraserburgh. A very weak East Coast side had no answer as Highland ran in 21 tries.
There were hat-tricks by man-of-the-match Calum McIntosh and Callum Carson, two tries each from Harrison Wright, Iain Crush, Callum Anderson, Fionnlagh Call, Robbie Rapson and Scott McKenzie, with single scores from John Wallace, Craig Little, Kenny Cameron and Laurie Cuthbertson. The 15 conversions were shared around the squad.
“Somebody told me at the weekend that we’d used 71 players across the two squads,” added Carson. “I didn’t think it would be anywhere near that. But it just shows the size of squad you need to be successful.
“It’s been a long haul of a season and with availability, work commitments and injuries, you need a big squad. There’s been a core of about five students that have been through in Aberdeen during the week but still played every game for the seconds on a weekend, which is fantastic.”
