Highland Wildcats aiming for perfect repeat in Inverness
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Highland Wildcats could be well on the way to another Britbowl appearance after this weekend’s home tournament at Bught Stadium if results go their way.
Tomorrow will be the second tournament of the season, also featuring the East Kilbride Pirates, Hamilton Buccaneers and Edinburgh Napier Knights, and the Wildcats go into the day with a perfect 3–0 record.
With their home tournament marking the halfway point of the season, if they can get another two or three wins – especially if they are convincing scorelines – the Wildcats will feel they have one foot in the national finals already.
“We have no idea going into this Saturday – it could be that it is quite easy, but I never like assuming that,” development officer Robbie Paulin said.
“We could find that it’s so difficult we’re clawing to get any sort of win.
“If we do get another three wins, we’re setting ourselves up pretty convincingly to go on a run to Britbowl. If we’re convincingly beating the same teams twice in-a-row, then that looks good for the rest of the season.
“You can never tell – that’s the frustrating thing. Some people would say it’s exciting, but as a coach it’s stressful! We’re probably worrying more than we should. We’re just trying to make sure we’re not being complacent.
“You never want to be that team that thinks ‘we were fine in the first one, so we’ll be fine in the next one’, because you just never know.”
There are certainly plenty of reasons for the Wildcats to be confident after their opening day performances, which Paulin put down to the application of both the players and coaches.
“I think we had really good recruitment this year – our flag and HACL stuff went well, and we’ve got a really good, enthusiastic staff who are taking the lead and really taking autonomy on it,” he explained.
“We’ve just got a really good bunch of players, it’s a really nice feeling this year. It feels like quite a driven squad, we’ve got some really good athletes, so all of those things are coming together.
“We can be pretty confident that if we play our best we will be fine, but we have to stay one step ahead of the other teams.”
