Nat Coe reckons a series of “nasty” training sessions were what was needed to get Aberdeen Grammar back on track.
Grammar have lost their last three games, which has included heavy defeats to Currie Chieftains and last weekend’s 61-7 hammering by Marr.
Prior to their current stumble, Grammar had enjoyed a solid return to Premiership rugby, with five wins from their opening six games. However, their defence has let them down of late, with 149 points shipped in this run of defeats.
Edinburgh Accies – Coe’s old club – lie in wait this weekend and the back reckons some demanding sessions have helped right the ship at Rubislaw.
He said: “We’ve had a few nasty sessions to try to pick things up. We take it pretty seriously and the boys are looking forward to getting going again.
“It’s reassuring training has been difficult as boys want to improve. It’s about picking yourself up after a loss and the players and staff are in-tune to that.
“Up until the last few weeks we have been feeling really confident and competitive in every game. Until Currie, we were winning big games and got off to a fairly good start. It’s been pretty mixed – we’ve leaked quite a few points so defence is something to improve on.”
This weekend marks the start of the second half of the season, with Grammar travelling to the capital to face Accies. They won the corresponding fixture at Rubislaw 30-17 on the opening day of the season.
Coe, who has also played for Aberdeenshire, wants the club to end the year strongly, starting with a win tomorrow.
He added: “It would be huge to get the win. You never know how many games you can get in before Christmas with the weather, so we need to be attacking every game like it’s our last game.
“I have fond memories of my time down there. I know the coaches well and they’ve got a good bunch of players, who play really hard rugby. But there’s no love lost – we’re going there to win.
“We haven’t really looked at their results but every away game is tough. They’ve got a great history of being a top team.”
Ultimately, a reaction from a series of humbling defeats is top of the agenda.
Coe added: “It was similar to previous weeks; we had a decent 15 minutes but couldn’t contain them. We put it down to ourselves, we can’t look to anything outside of us.
“You can compare league tables but we have not been at the races. We’ve been trying to fix things that aren’t going right for us and we’ll continue to do that.”
