Dave Carson hoping Highland Rugby Club are closing in on improvement to away form
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Highland Rugby Club coach Dave Carson has reminded his players that they need to be mentally right to get results away from home in National One.
Generally very strong at their Canal Park home, it is results on the road that have prevented Highland from challenging at the very upper echelon in the division over the last couple of seasons.
They will be tested once again, then, this weekend when they travel to Watsonians.
Last season Highland did pick up a victory at New Myreside, but it was a far closer affair than the match in Inverness where Carson’s side won comfortably.
He is keen to ensure they do not fall on the wrong side of a close result this time around, and believes having the right motivation could be the key.
“We had really good sessions last week – although we lost to Melrose the boys were still buzzing,” Carson explained.
“We did a lot of video analysis on how well we played, so we know what we are capable of.
“We’ve said over the year that if we can keep the ball for eight, nine or 10 phases at this level we’ll eventually get a score.
“That’s what happened against Melrose. We got a bonus point and four tries against them, so it’s just about trying to replicate that in training so we can keep doing it in matches.
“It has to be in the head, what our thoughts and feelings are stepping out on someone else’s pitch instead of our own.
“We’re still working on that, we don’t have the answer yet, but hopefully we’re a bit closer to picking up more victories away from home.”
The travel involved is not the issue for Highland, who have been used to playing in the central belt for years.
Trying to work out exactly why they seem to under-perform away from home is a conundrum, then, and Carson is open to the idea of bringing in outside expertise to solve it.
“I have no doubt in my mind that we’re good enough to win these away games,” he said.
“It’s a steep learning curve for coaches as well. Maybe we need to get someone in to give us a hand with the mental side of it and see what we need to do differently when we’re away. We need to change the mindset of some guys, that’s for sure.”
