For Aberdeen Grammar co-captain Nat Coe, Premiership survival is more than just about wins and losses on a Saturday.
Coe, who took on the role of co-captain at Grammar in the summer, is realistic and knows their relegation would see a big shift in the rugby picture in the region.
Grammar are the only team north of Edinburgh in the top flight, with the other nine clubs clustered around the central belt and Borders.
Nine defeats from nine paints a bleak picture of the situation at Rubislaw, which has not helped by an injury crisis and two Covid-related postponements.
The importance of staging a great escape, not only for the club but for rugby north of the capital, is not lost on Coe.
“We’re a tight bunch of players at the moment and I think we’re all in it together for the common goal: to keep Grammar in the Premiership,” he said.
“We all know how important it is for Scottish rugby and Aberdeen rugby to have a team from the north-east represented in the Premiership. That’s quite a heavy burden at the moment, but it’s at least a common goal for us all to pull together with.
“We think it’s a much bigger than just Aberdeen Grammar. It’s important for Scottish rugby and the amateur game that we’re in the Premiership – we understand that and are doing our best to stay there.
“We’ve got our friends at Highland, who are doing their bit for that side of the country, and we’re doing our very best just to keep something up here.
“I’m a PE teacher by trade and I know how important it is to have a team here for the youngsters.
“The worry is it’s a slippery slope. When things do start to go badly, other things can fall away. We need to keep encouraging players to come along and come to the north-east to play high-level rugby.
“For that we need to be in the Premiership and we need to be winning games. We understand the task in front of us and we’re doing all we can, week in week out, to change it.”
Coe believes any prospect of getting a north-east team in the Super 6 – the franchise league in Scotland which features no teams from Dundee, Aberdeen or Inverness – will also be affected if they drop down.
“The Super 6 is rumbling on below us in the central belt – I don’t see sustainability in amateur rugby anywhere north of the central belt unless there’s an Aberdeen team involved at some point,” he added.
“We know being in the Premiership at the moment is important for that dream to be realised somewhere down the line.
“There’s a lot going on and we do feel pretty responsible for rugby in the north-east at the moment. We’re trying our best to stay up.
“We’re at a ‘do-or-die’ stage and we’re in agreement that we’re going to ‘do’. We want to kick on and salvage this.
“We feel we’re going to get the results we need over the next few weeks and hopefully things fall into place around us.”
Grammar face GHA at home tomorrow, the second of four home games on the bounce as they try to capitalise on a stint at Rubislaw to spark a revival.
Coe had been among the injured pack until last week, making his return in the loss to Accies.
He added: “I broke my hand about six weeks ago – I was out of my cast last Wednesday and played on Saturday. It was a disappointing result but it was good personally to be back.
“It’s frustrating particularly given the situation we’re in as a club. As one of the captains, it’s difficult to watch that stuff happening and not be able to have an effect on the pitch each week.
“I’ve been keeping fit in the gym and then being down at training most evenings, to add any bits of help I can. I’ve ran a couple of line-out sessions as well, which has hopefully been worthwhile.”
