Highland Rugby Club have chance to start 2023 in style at Canal Park by avenging disappointing loss to GHK
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Dave Carson wants Highland Rugby Club to kick off 2023 in style by showing GHK what they are really made of.
When the two sides met in Glasgow earlier in the campaign, GHK ran out 24–13 winners in what Carson has called one of his side’s worst displays of the season.
For the first match of the new year, though, GHK make the journey north to Canal Park, and Highland will be desperate to avoid a similar slump in performance levels.
“We just didn’t turn up that day,” Carson recalled.
“We got battered up front with the forwards, and they were worthy winners in the end. We never looked like winning to be honest.
“It was one of our poorest performances of the year. You can analyse it as much as you want, but eventually you’ve just got to put it to bed and move on.
“The following week I think we had Biggar at home, and we got a bonus point win at Canal Park against them. That showed what the boys can do, and they turned it around in a week which was fantastic.
“We’ll kick on from where we were again, and put in a performance this week.
“We’ve got a nice run of four games – three at home and one away – in the league, so we’ll be looking to get as many points as possible to keep pushing for that third or fourth place.”
Home form will be vital if Highland are to push higher than their current position of fifth, but as well as recording wins Carson is keen to pick up as many bonus points as possible in the process.
“Every week we’re looking to get a win, and if you get four points you’re happy,” he reasoned.
“Some games we’ll think we should have got five points. GHK have won four and lost eight, they’re coming up to Inverness, so against these sides you’re looking for a bonus point.
“In a couple of weeks we’ll have top of the table Kelso coming up, so we’d take a four point win there, but certainly against teams below you, at home, you’re looking for five points.”
