Highland kick off their rugby year by making the trip to recently-crowned National One champions Ayr on Saturday.
Ayr have been the frontrunners since day one of the 2023-24 league season in September and made sure they will be playing in the Premiership next term by emphatically thumping GHK 94-24 on December 16.
Highland were their nearest rivals for a chunk of the season and were due to be at Millbrae on October 21 for a top-of-the-table clash before Storm Babet got in the way.
At that point, Highland had won six and lost one to sit on 27 points with Ayr on 33 points.
However, Ayr’s relentless form since then and a bit of a wobble by Highland just before the festive break means the former outfit are now on 68 points, while the Inverness side have slipped to third and are on 40 points.
Highland do have five games left, though, and if they can leapfrog Melrose again and finish in second spot, then it would be an excellent achievement by the club.
As a result, there is still a lot to play for, and Highland head coach Dave Carson said: “The players have had a well-deserved rest in recent weeks and we have trained on Wednesday evening and Thursday evening this week in preparation for Ayr.
“We are looking forward to testing ourselves against a good side. We know that we will really have to perform well to get a result, but I know the players have got that in them.
“As a group we are looking to finish the season as strongly as we started it, and with Ayr already up, we are looking to finish as high as possible in the table – so second is the goal the players have set themselves.”
In another rearranged match featuring local teams, Caithness and Ellon are set to meet in Caledonia One’s North Conference.
Caithness are currently seventh in the eight-team conference with three wins from nine completed games, while Ellon are in fourth with five wins out of eight.
Ellon had a great win over conference leaders Moray on December 9 and will want to keep that form going.
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