Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Rugby: Highland look to start 2024 with win at National One champions Ayr

Highland lost out in the title race, but still hope to be the best of the rest in the division.

Highland Rugby Club are back in action this weekend. Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson.
Highland Rugby Club are back in action this weekend. Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson.

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.

 

Conversation