Highland head coach Dave Carson backs his side to shine on national stage
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DAVE Carson insists Highland will relish testing themselves against the best in Scotland when they compete in the National Shield.
An emphatic 39-5 win over Glenrothes in the Caledonia Shield on Saturday means Highland will compete against the winners of the Borders, West Region and Edinburgh shields to be crowned national champions.
With designs on being promoted to National League Three at the end of this campaign, head coach Carson believes it will provide an acid test for what awaits the Inverness side should they succeed in their quest for the league title.
At the same time as Highland were taking apart Glenrothes, Carrick were booking their place in the National Shield too, winning the West Region Shield 28-5 against Annan. Carrick are based in Maybole, South Ayrshire, and are third in West Region Division One.
Both teams are awaiting the winners of the Edinburgh and Borders ties, with Murrayfield Wanderers and North Berwick contesting the former on March 12. Duns face St Boswells in the Borders final on the same day. The draw will then be made for the semi-finals with Carson confident his side can stand up to the coming test.
“There’s teams up at the top of their respective leagues and it will be something new for the boys. They are teams we know nothing about," he said. “Whoever we get will give us a tough game, but it’s going to take something special to beat these boys right now.
“It would be nice to get a home draw, but knowing our luck, we’ll probably be away. But I would back our guys any day of the week.”
The prize for the winners of the semi-finals – scheduled for March 26 – will be a trip to Murrayfield for the final on April 16. In the meantime, league business will take priority, with three home games on the bounce for Carson’s side starting this weekend against basement club Hillfoots.
Mackie Academy travel to the Highland capital the weekend after with Glenrothes on March 12.
Due to postponements earlier in the season, Glenrothes were the only side Highland had not faced prior to Saturday.
And the Highland head coach said the approach from the Glenrothes players raised a few eyebrows, with two sin-binned in the second half.
“When they went down to 13 they played their best rugby. They got at us, tested us and off-loaded the ball well,” said Carson. “We seemed to play all the rugby and they didn’t – they threw everything at us in more ways than one and had other things on their mind.”
But now the last unknown obstacle has been conquered in Caledonia League Division One, Carson wants a concerted effort from his side to get the league title sewn up.
“We’ve got two games now against the bottom two at home and they know the big prize at the end of it," he said. "But they can’t just go out and expect to win. It’s one hell of a group of boys here who work so hard and push each other at training every week.
“We’ve played everyone now and not really had a close game.”
The two injury concerns from Saturday, Ruaridh MacDonald and Paddy Bryden, will be monitored this week, but MacDonald will definitely miss the Hillfoots game as part of the two-week concussion protocol.
Bryden, who has a gash in his head, has not been ruled out, but Carson is preparing to make changes for the weekend.
Tries from Richard Sim (two), Craig Findlater, Seamus Ross, Andrew Findlater and Tam Magowan put the greens out of sight against Glenrothes.
"It was a really good display from us. We scored some great tries in the first half and kept plugging way in the second," added Carson.
