Inverness Craig Dunain aim to maintain winning run for 2019
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Inverness Craig Dunain team manager Graeme Hislop wants to see his side build on a good performance last time out to end 2019 undefeated.
The city side travel to bottom of the table Aberdeenshire 2nd XV tomorrow for their last away game of the year, before hosting Ellon 2nds next month.
On paper Craig Dunain will be favourites, sitting 15 points ahead of this weekend’s opponents.
It will be a trip into the unknown as Aberdeenshire 2nds have only just re-entered Caledonia North Four, but Hislop is hoping to use it as a launchpad for a strong end to the calendar year.
“Their first team are at home at the same time as we’re playing, so that’s good from our point of view that they’re not going to bring in a load of first team players,” he said.
“If we take our performance against Fraserburgh into the game then I’d be looking for a bonus point victory.
“We’ve kind of earmarked this game to try and get a good, solid victory on the road, then we’ve got a couple of weeks off before we play Ellon 2nds at home just before the festive break.
“If we can go undefeated in these two games then it really does put us up there in the mix for promotion in the latter stages of the season.”
Last time out third-placed ICD beat Fraserburgh.
It was a show of strength across the pitch that Hislop found encouraging, and if anything he thinks his squad will be stronger this time around, although Callum Ramsay is still injured.
“We’ve got Struan Simpson and Finlay Foulis in the middle at 12 and 13, they’re starting to really forge a partnership in the backs along with the half-back partnership, Peter Berrett and Ian Weafer at nine and 10,” Hislop explained.
“Right through the backs, we’ve got a very strong spine there. In the forwards, we’ve got a solid front line.
“George Stephenson is a key player, Scott Eunson as well in the forwards. We’ve got Drew Cooper coming back from injury who plays lock for us, he’s a very key player as well and can with a couple of runs can cause a lot of teams problems.
“He’s a very hard guy to put down, very strong, so it’s great to have him back this Saturday.”
