Aberdeen Grammar skipper Tom Aplin reckons Highland are a blueprint of how to grow a rugby club.
Over the last decade, Highland have grown from a club dwelling in the Caledonia leagues to contending at the top-end of National One, while pushing the boat out to develop a conveyor belt of players from Inverness.
Grammar struggled with player availability issues last season, with an extensive injury-list hampering the club’s ability to get a first and second team on the park.
Strengthening links with the student community in Aberdeen is part of the big-picture plan for Grammar, amid the rebuild under Nat Coe and Greig Ryan this season.
Highland, by contrast, have been led through their entire journey by head coach Dave Carson and field three teams in the Scottish Rugby system.
Grammar were due to host the Inverness side this weekend but Scottish Rugby has postponed all domestic competitive matches this weekend following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
With the return of what passes for a derby for Grammar this season, the matches between the teams will be a chance to showcase the best north rugby has to offer and Aplin believes Highland are an example to others.
“It’s an unreal story for them,” he said. “I remember when they were down in the lower Caley leagues and they’ve really built a good culture, a good club.
“The facility is incredible and you can see they’re getting three teams out now, which is a credit to their committee and their coaches, to get that many guys rugby. I think they’re in a unique position where they may struggle to get some guys rugby and I don’t think there’s many clubs like that at the moment.
“They seem to have attracted all the talent and that’s what Aberdeen needs to do if we want to build rugby up here. You look at Highland and the way they’ve done it, it seems to be working.
“We’ve got Craig McLeod, one of our senior skills coaches, who also coaches at the uni. He’s building the relationship with them in the hope we can get the students down. They’re coming back in dribs and drabs. We need to bring them along and get them involved as much as possible.”
It does raise the question again about the number of rugby teams in Aberdeen, with Grammar, Gordonians, Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen Wanderers and Dyce all based in the city and clubs such as Deeside, Ellon, Garioch and Mackie slightly further afield.
“It’s very easy for people to make excuses, say boys are working offshore, but there’s too many rugby clubs and not enough players, in my opinion,” said Aplin. “All the clubs, if we want rugby to grow, need to work together.
“A lot of teams are struggling to get second teams out. There’s weeks where all the clubs are asking each other for players and it is hard being this far away with the travelling.
“But if boys want to play this level of rugby, it’s the only option we’ve got.”
Aplin was promoted to team captain this season by the new coaching team but it looks to be business as usual for the Grammar centre.
“I don’t think it changes too much,” he said. “If I’m still kicking goals then I’m still making decisions anyway. I’m stood next to Sam Knudson every week and he’s done it for years, so there’s plenty of boys to help.
“The real challenge for us is to bring through more leaders underneath us. It’s been the same faces for quite a while now – we need some young boys to start stepping up.
“We’ve got a few guys coming through, the next generation like Ben Renton, Liam Buchan, Greg Shepherd, that have come through Grammar as kids. Now that they’re contributing to the seniors it’s good, because it brings that culture through the club.”
