Highland Rugby Club head coach Dave Carson keen to avoid repeat of last season's National One opening day defeat when Ayrshire return to Canal Park in Inverness to kick off 2022/23 Scottish Rugby club season
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Highland Rugby Club head coach Dave Carson is mindful that his side cannot afford a repeat of last season’s slow start if they are to be in promotion contention this year.
The Canal Park side face exactly the same fixture they began the 2021/22 season with tomorrow as Ayr head north to Inverness.
Last year, it was the visitors who narrowly won 13–12, with Highland going on to lose both of their opening two games. This time around, they are determined not to let that happen again with victory in front of a home crowd the goal.
“They scored in the last minute at Canal Park last year, so we certainly don’t want that to happen again,” Carson explained.
“We beat them down at their place which was probably one of our best away performances, so we’ll need to put in that same grit and determination to put in a home performance which we didn’t do last year.
“We had a really slow start last year, so we’ve certainly talked about that. We want to start quickly, and home games are so important.
“I think we lost two last year, against Ayr and Gala, where we lost by a point in each of them – if we win those we get four points instead of one, and every point makes a difference.”
Highland had a visit from a sports psychologist from New Zealand – who had been assisting at the Commonwealth Games – at training this week, and Carson hopes that can give them the edge this season.
“Every team in the league wants to get promoted,” Carson reasoned.
“If they don’t there’s really no point in being there. There were three games last year that, if we had won, we would have been sitting second or third quite comfortably.
“It’s those sort of games we really want to focus the minds on. Home or away, you don’t get an easy ride, so you’ve got to be focused and keep taking the games as they come along.”
