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Rugby: Highland and Orkney reflect on their national league seasons so far

Highland head coach Davie Carson. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson.
Highland head coach Davie Carson. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson.

Highland head coach Davie Carson is aiming to make further strides up the National 1 table before the end of the season.

The Inverness outfit are fifth in the table at present, one point adrift of Gala in fourth.

Highland signed off for the winter break with a 58-14 victory over Aberdeen Grammar, with their next game at home to GHK on January 7.

With 10 matches of the campaign remaining, Carson insists Gala are firmly in his side’s sights.

Carson said: “We’ve got a nice run of home games against sides all down below us, which is good.

“We have tough trips to Melrose, Gala and Biggar, which will be three difficult games.

“We will then play Kelso, who are top of the league at the moment, at Canal Park.

Highland’s Canal Park.

“In the second game of the season, if we had another five minutes I think we would have beaten them down at Kelso. We eventually came within three points of them.

“There is some exciting stuff to come after new year. If we can win our home games, which I hope we would do, hopefully we can pick something up away from home.

“The next target is to get above Gala into fourth, and we will see if there’s a chance to get higher up after that.”

Highland back on track in latter part of year

Carson is frustrated not to have more points on board, however he took encouragement from the way his side finished before the break.

He added: “Overall, we are a point off fourth place – and that’s probably where we are as a club at the moment.

“There were a couple of games we didn’t turn up at, like the GHK game and the Stirling County game.

“But we went away and beat Stewart’s Melville, Watsonian, and we took Ayr to the last minute before beating Grammar.

“We are obviously disappointed with a few results, but we are going to get that every season.

“We will take them on the chin and learn from them, which I think we have done.

“The big turning point was when Melrose came up to Inverness – in probably the best game of rugby I have seen in National 1 for a long time. We turned a wee corner there, and it has been a good finish up to Christmas.

“We have young Patrick Ratumaisese who is only 20, while Alfie Kinsella is 17, while 18-year-old Ollie Smith got his first start at Canal Park.

Patrick Ratumaisese in action for Highland.

“Getting the chance to blood young guys in at this level is fantastic, and it’s the future of the club.”

Orkney have found feet back in national setup

In National 3, Orkney are also at the right end of the table following their promotion from Caledonia 1 in the summer.

The islanders returned to the national setup for the first time since suffering relegation in 2019.

With Orkney currently occupying sixth place, head coach Derek Robb is pleased with the way his side have settled and is keen to continue from where they left off in the new year.

Robb said: “Looking back on it, we are there or thereabouts in having a 50% win ratio.

“We didn’t really know what to expect, coming back into National 3.

3 Orkney head coach Derek Robb.

“It’s a fairly young squad of lads, that got a bit of grounding in the Caledonia leagues. But it was always going to be a much harder task, especially against teams in the top half of the table.

“We have probably found that, although we have caused some of them problems as well.

“With the amount of changes we have had from week-to-week within squads, we have done pretty well over the piece. There has been a lot of disruption to the squads which can interrupt the rhythm.

“The aim is to consolidate where we are in the table, and keep improving as a squad. If we can get a bit more depth in the squad post-year, and maybe a bit more experience into the mix, it will make us more competitive.”

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