Highland out to record back-to-back away victories in National One at Ayr
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Highland Rugby Club are looking to see if they can secure relatively rare back-to-back away victories when they travel to Ayr this weekend.
Head coach Dave Carson has been clear that form on the road must improve if Highland are to realise their ambitions of challenging for the National One title and becoming a Premiership outfit.
Last week, he got a response from his players as they ran out 21–12 winners over Watsonians.
Now, the challenge at hand is to double up when they visit Ayrshire tomorrow, and their head-to-head record should give Highland some confidence.
“It’s a big test for us again down at Ayr,” Carson explained.
“We beat them at the beginning of the season, then they hadn’t lost again until last Saturday against Kelso.
“They will certainly be up for it. They’re a really good side, we beat them down there last year but it was really close and a tough game, so we’re expecting a real battle.
“They’re obviously flying, they will have a lot of confidence after getting eight or nine wins but hurting after getting beat last weekend.
“We’re starting to string things together.
“We got beat by Melrose but we put in a good performance, and then we backed it up away at Watsonians. Now we have to see if we can back it up again at Ayr.”
Carson expects Ayr to be particularly motivated knowing that Highland went down there and won last season.
“They will certainly want revenge,” he seasoned.
“It’s in your DNA, you want to make sure you don’t lose at home again.
“On the flip side of that, it’s proof to us that we can go on a long, long away day down to Ayr and come back with four points.
“We haven’t got it right away all the time, but we did it as recently as last week, so if we can replicate that without the slow start then we’ll be there or thereabouts by the end of the game.”
Andrew Kellock has played his last game of the calendar year after the Highland man picked up a concussion last weekend against Watsonians.
He has been placed on the return to play protocol, but with time running out before the winter break Dave Carson will not risk him before 2023.
In brighter news for Carson, Lewis Sinclair, Grant Jamieson and Andrew Findlater will come back into the reckoning for tomorrow’s trip to Ayr.
Whether the head coach will want to change a winning team, though, remains to be seen and he has plenty of decisions to make.
Caledonia leagues round-up
After a few weeks with a limited fixture list due to the Autumn Internationals and cup competitions, the Caledonia leagues return in force tomorrow afternoon.
In the North Two, Highland’s Raptors will resume their bit for the league title as they go on the road to one of their biggest challengers.
Ahead of the match, Moray sit second in the table – 11 points behind the Inverness outfit, but with two games in hand to close that gap.
This weekend could prove crucial to the eventual destination of the title then, since should Moray beat Highland they would hold their fate in their own hands.
On the flip side of that however, if Highland can win – with our without a bonus point – it would make things significantly more difficult for Moray, or anyone else for that matter, to stop them sauntering to yet another Caley North Two title.
While Highland’s seconds face a crunch match away from home, the club’s third team will have home advantage in the Caledonia North Three’s west division against mid-table side Turriff.
With a tight-knit pack forming just behind Highland that includes Turriff, the Canal Park side will not want to get dragged into any sort of battle for position before the league splits.
Win, and Highland should be comfortably inside the top half to compete with Caley Three’s best in the latter stages of the campaign – even if it looks as though Kinloss will prove difficult to dislodge from the top of the west league.
In the same division, Inverness Craig Dunain’s men have moved into contention for the top half after their second win of the campaign over Caithness last time out.
Tomorrow, though, victory would prove more important than at any other point to date this season as they face a double header against third-placed Stornoway – just four points ahead of ICD going into the weekend.
Craig Dunain’s women, who celebrated 10 years since the team re-launched last weekend, are the odd ones out in the seven-team division.
In fact, they only have one more match to play in 2022, against Peterhead on Saturday, December 17.
