Next man up for Highland after injury to Stuart MacDonald
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DAVE Carson is looking for one of his squad players to step up after the ‘disaster’ of losing stalwart Stuart MacDonald to a broken leg.
MacDonald was injured in an innocuous tackle during the second half of Saturday’s emphatic 56-19 BT Cup win over St Boswells, ruling the Highland vice-captain out until next year.
The number eight will see a specialist earlier this week to assess the damage but was gutted about the injury when Carson spoke to him on Saturday night.
It clouded an otherwise impressive day for the home side, who marked their return to National League rugby by dispatching their fellow promoted side at Canal Park.
Carson, who will miss Saturday’s game against Orkney due to a family holiday, spoke of his sympathy for MacDonald, who was set for a key role in the Highland setup this season.
“It’s an absolute disaster. We’re gutted for him,” said Carson. “He’s going to see a specialist and we’ll just have to wait and see what the damage is. It’s definitely broken but he hasn’t had it put in a boot, so I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing.
“Stuart was devastated when I spoke to him. After putting in a lot of work in pre-season, you want your rewards when you come out to play. He’ll get all the help we can offer but it’s just going to be a healing process.
“It gives someone else a good opportunity to step up to the plate. We’ve got three or four options – Ben Gordon is coming back off holiday this week, Andrew Findlater can drop back to number eight or we can re-jig the back five. There’ll be a lot of decisions made at training on Thursday night.”
Fortunately, Highland were already well clear by the time MacDonald went down, negating the impact his injury could have had on the game, but as a popular member of the squad his absence will be keenly felt.
The greens ran in seven tries against their National Three opponents, who like Highland dominated their regional league last year and claimed the title comfortably. They were barely in the game in Inverness, however, and Carson was surprised at the margin of victory.
“It was very surprising and I thought it would have been harder than it was,” he said. “It was a more physical game than we’ve had in the last three years but we executed everything we wanted to.
“They turned up in two minibuses at five-past-two and we did as we said we would – hit them early. We were so much fitter than they were and kept the tempo up. They’re a big unit and very physical at the breakdown, so it’ll be interesting to see how they go in the first few league games.”
Carson had set his players a specific game plan to start with a high tempo, aggressive style – and this is just what they did. Highland gave the visitors no chance to settle as they ran in two early tries to set up a fine win.
From the kick-off Highland were close to the line and a powerful scrum shoved the visiting pack off their own ball, which led to a quick succession of punches at the line.
Good ball retention each time eventually saw skipper Andrew Findlater touch down in the corner. Stand-off Scott Fraser made a superb conversion from out wide.
The home side did not slacken and more attack play pulled in the St Boswells defence, which was spotted by scrum-half Tom Brogan who deftly chipped the advancing defenders for Craig Findlater to race in and touch down, again converted by Fraser for 14-0.
This was a good spell for Highland yet the visitors rallied and had a couple of attacks thwarted by some good tackling as well some poor discipline. They had a penalty chance which was pulled wide but further St Boswells pressure saw their small but elusive full-back Callum McNeill run in for a converted try.
Highland were not derailed by this and they came back on the attack, starting with a penalty for handling in the ruck which was converted by Fraser. Back on the front foot, Highland’s better control and discipline snuffed out any opposition threats to run in tries from Sean Blair and Craig Findlater, both converted by the in-form Fraser for a comfortable half-time score of 31-7.
The squad were well-placed to repeat the scoring of the first-half but a couple of issues crept in to disrupt the intensity of play.
Tom Brogan and Kevin Brown were taken off so as not to aggravate injuries, but the worst news was MacDonald suffering a broken fibula from a seemingly innocuous contact. Highland sealed the victory with tries from Brogan, Callum Carson and Lyall Archer, with two conversions and two penalties from Fraser, who only slipped up on the last kick of the day.
The changes saw some cohesion in defence lost and the St Boswells number 10 Lee Armstrong inspired a couple of tries, one for himself and centre Greg Walker. But this was not enough to threaten Highland who deserved their 56-19 win.
For many spectators this was the best display of rugby by Highland, especially in the first quarter and the efforts put in Carson and his coaching staff to prepare the squad are paying off. MacDonald’s injury will mean he is out until the New Year, which tends to highlight a possible injury crisis if any more players fall victim.
All attention will now turn to Saturday’s opening league encounter against Orkney, as Highland prepare to make their bow in National Three.
In Carson’s absence, the first XV will be left in the capable hands of Chris Brogan, Alister Wemyss and Jas Hepburn.
The second XV are also preparing to get their season underway, following promotion to Caledonia Two North West last season.
In their opening league encounter at Canal Park on Saturday they face neighbours Ross Sutherland, who were thumped 58-0 on Saturday by RAF Lossiemouth.
A second successive promotion is not of the question for the second string, with just six teams contesting the league this season.
The junior sides started their league campaign in the President’s Conference against Boroughmuir and on Saturday the under-18s battled hard against good opposition for a 29-7 win.
The other sides were not so fortunate as the under-16s and under-15s lost at Canal Park and the under-14s and under-13s suffered defeat in the capital.
