Aberdeen Grammar scrum-half Morgan Ward has warned his team-mates it’s time to stand up and be counted at Rubislaw.
Grammar slipped into the relegation zone in National 1 following defeat at Marr, a result which leaves the club with one draw and three defeats from the opening four games.
For a club which started the season hoping to push for promotion back to Premiership 1 Ward knows his club has to stop the rot.
He said: “We’ve got a massive point to prove to ourselves as it hasn’t been good enough so far. We’ve got an awesome squad here, the second and third teams are doing well and everything is in place for this club to be successful.
“The atmosphere at the club is good and the team spirit is much better than it was last season. That’s why it’s so frustrating that we haven’t shown that in terms of our results.
“There is no hiding from this. We have to pull our fingers out, step-up our game and start performing.”
Ward, who will captain the side as regular captain Greig Ryan is attending a wedding, was among a group of senior players who led a team meeting earlier this week in the hope of getting the club’s season back on track.
He admits harsh words had to be said but expects to see the meeting leading to an improvement on the pitch, starting with the visit of Jed-Forest to Rubislaw tomorrow.
He said: “There’s no getting away from it; it has been a very disappointing start to the season for us.
“We seem to produce performances for 40 minutes or 60 minutes and last week was another game where we let ourselves down.
“We came out the blocks quickly at Marr, scoring a lot of points in the first 25 minutes but we couldn’t maintain it.
“We had a meeting at training on Tuesday and the senior players took it upon ourselves to go through the squad and what it takes to play for this club.
“I don’t know if some guys looked at National 1 as an easier league to play but it isn’t. Every team is capable of beating the others and it’s going to take a lot of hard work and consistency if we are to push up the table and challenge in the top half.
“We’ve got Jed-Forest on Saturday and that’s a great example of what I’m talking about. They’re a typical Borders team which means they’ll be a close-knit group of players who will give us a niggly, physical game. We have to be ready for that and get back to making Rubislaw a fortress again.”