Kevin Brown reckons Highland’s Scottish Cup defeat at top-flight Musselburgh provided a valuable lesson as the club target future promotion.
Despite holding a two-point interval lead, their Premiership hosts roared back for a 40-21 victory in the weekend’s fourth-round tie to line up a shot at Selkirk.
While promotion out of National 1 is no longer a target this season, Highland are working towards being in a position to make the step up in future years.
Hooker Brown says the visitors were competitive and showed enough talent, but the size and power of their opponents made a difference.
He said: “You can see the difference between the sides if we want to go up to that level.
“They are big lads, big heavy carriers and they put on a lot of pressure to give them good forward balls.
FULL TIME at Stoneyfield @MusselburghRFC 40-21 @HighlandRFC
Congratualtions to Musselburgh good luck against Selkirk, and in the league.— Highland Rugby Club 🦅 (@HighlandRFC) February 4, 2023
“I’d say skill-wise, we’re absolutely there. We were able to ship the ball out to wide channels, which was effective for us.
“Our line-out wasn’t effective on Saturday.
“Scrummage-wise, we were fine and we matched them, but as a team there are areas we need to improve on if we are to reach that level, but we’re not too far away.”
Two tries was strong Highland reply
Brown felt the balance of the contest tipped in Musselburgh’s favour when Highland were a man down in the second half.
He said: “We got off to a slow start. Right from the kick-off, we put ourselves under a lot of pressure. They scored very early and then again about five minutes later.
“We got ourselves back in the game and took the lead with two tries from Magnus (Henry).
🏉💚❤️ If you click the link below you will be taken to some cracking photographs, courtesy of Shona Stott, from yesterdays 40-21 loss at @MusselburghRFC in the Scottish Cup. https://t.co/1WSLkOgS2J
— Highland Rugby Club 🦅 (@HighlandRFC) February 5, 2023
“At half-time, we had a narrow (14-12) lead, so we were in a good position. We had the wind against us going into the second half, but we just didn’t get going.
“Scott (Fraser) got an unlucky yellow card early on for being offside when they were in a scoring position, so we were a man down and, in the end, it became too big a task for us.”
Away games offer fresh challenges
Last weekend’s opponents Musselburgh are second-bottom of the Premiership with a game to, but successive wins against GHA and Jed Forest – before beating Highland in the cup – has given them a fighting chance of survival.
Brown, who watched Scotland’s brilliant 29-23 Twickenham Six Nations triumph against England on his phone as a passenger in a car on the way back north on Saturday, explained it was always going to be a testing afternoon for his side.
He added: “Musselburgh are near the bottom of the Premiership and they could potentially come into our league next season.
“However, they have hit a bit of form in recent weeks and they’ve still got a chance of staying up.
“There are no bad teams in the Premiership, so you know it’s always going to be a tough test.
“Playing away from home is always that bit harder. We are used to our 4G pitch, which is nice and firm and we can play some good, fast rugby.
“But that’s the Scottish Cup done for us for another year – it was still a great experience and it was good to get it back on the go again.”
FULL TIME
Onward in the cup. Selkirk away awaits us on the 25th March.
Musselburgh 40 – 21 Highland#BackingBurgh
— Musselburgh RFC (@MusselburghRFC) February 4, 2023
Highland aiming for victory at Gala
Next weekend, Highland’s pursuit of fourth spot in National 1 continues when they travel to the team already in that position: Gala.
They are just one point and one place above the Inverness side and Brown insists a win is not beyond them if they hit top gear.
He said: “We come back with an away game against Gala, who are just above us in the table.
“Promotion is almost certainly gone for us, so we want to try and finish as high as we can now.
“Going away to Borders teams is always hard, but if we have our strongest squad out, then it is doable.”
Staying up still in Highland minds ahead of league restructure
For season 2023/24, there will be a new national league introduced, meaning from National 1, only the champions go up, while three are relegated.
Brown says Highland cannot take their eyes off the ball, and with younger players coming through, they can look ahead with optimism.
He added: “We’re not safe, but we’re comfortable. If we lost every game, we’d be in a relegation battle, so the focus is to get as high as we can.
Well it wouldn’t be Highland if we didn’t concede a score within the 1st 5 mins. Musselburgh go in wide right, conversion missed. @MusselburghRFC 5-0 @HighlandRFC pic.twitter.com/Oscn3zxtjN
— Highland Rugby Club 🦅 (@HighlandRFC) February 4, 2023
“We have got quite a few younger guys coming into the team with an eye on next season, while there will be a few guys looking at retiring next season, so there will be changes over the summer.
“But it is good for the club, for example, to have young lads like Ollie (Smith) playing on Saturday.
“He came up from the 18s and has played the majority of games for the twos, but he played for the ones.
“Hopefully these guys will get more game-time with the ones next season.”
Orkney face Greenock in next fixture
Orkney also have a weekend off, with the Six Nations, where Scotland meet Wales, taking centre stage.
Derek Robb’s side, who stepped back to National 3 this season, are going along nicely in sixth position and they travel to second-bottom Greenock Wanderers next Saturday.
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