Highland co-captain Scott Fraser hopes to implement some words of advice from former British and Irish Lions stalwart Will Greenwood following his surprise appearance at training this week.
Greenwood, who won 55 caps as an inside centre for England and was involved in three Lions tours, was in the Highlands on a golfing trip, which Fraser’s fellow skipper Callum Carson identified through social media.
After Carson’s ambitious attempt to invite him to a training session, Highland’s players and staff were only too pleased when the 2003 World Cup winner obliged.
Greenwood was present for the Inverness club’s session at Canal Park on Tuesday, and offered up some advice for Davie Carson’s squad.
Fraser says the 48-year-old’s presence provided the squad with an unexpected boost.
INTERVIEW | 🎥🏉
Former @EnglandRugby and @lionsofficial Will Greenwood was at @HighlandRFC on Tuesday evening. Here’s what he had to say👇 pic.twitter.com/lTAu4ZVFAq
— CORE (@coreltduk) October 6, 2021
He said: “Callum Carson had noticed through social media that Will Greenwood was up in the area, he was up playing golf.
“Callum being his usual shy and retiring self decided to message him and ask him along, which was brilliant.
“We had our usual bit of video analysis looking back at the weekend, before he took part playing some touch rugby. It was nothing major, but he gave us a couple of really valuable technical insights.
“It was a nice shock for the boys as we were not sure if he was going to make it.
“He was impressed with the facilities and everything we’ve got going, with the numbers we’ve got at training.”
Momentum building following early season slip-ups
Highland are aiming to rack up a fourth successive victory when they host Watsonian in National 1 this weekend.
Fly-half Fraser feels his side have got themselves back on track after opening the campaign with two losses, although he is aiming to improve the performance level from last week’s 19-15 triumph over Dundee.
He added: “Every team has been in the same position, going through that period without playing.
“We were maybe slightly guilty of underestimating a few of the changes in personnel we had.
“We are certainly on the right track now – the last few weeks have been good.
“There was maybe a bit of drop off in performance against Dundee. We have certainly played better, but a win is a win.
“Hopefully if we produce a better performance this weekend that will take care of the result.
“I expect they will have a lot of young boys, and if we give them the chance to get into the game they will be pretty fearless.
“We will just look to play our game, and if we perform like we can we will be confident about taking a result against any team.”
