Highland Rugby Club head coach Davie Carson feels turning fine margins in his side’s favour will be key in their hopes of climbing National 1 next season.
The Inverness outfit ended the campaign in sixth place, missing out on the opportunity to jump into fifth spot when they suffered a final day 57-14 loss to Biggar.
Although Highland went on to win 12 of their 22 games, Carson felt some damaging early-season defeats left his side with too much to do in the race for promotion.
Carson said: “Looking at it, it’s probably where we are, as a team and a squad. A lot of younger and inexperienced guys came in this season.
“We lost four out of the pack for the whole of the season, who we had for the last four or five years.
“There were new guys that came in, and it was always going to take them time to bed in and get them used to the speed of National 1 rugby, and the way we play the game.
“We were probably disappointed with two or three results at the most, where we felt we let ourselves down.
“Other times we got beat, we just had to hold our hands up. Gala beat us at home with the last kick of the game, which was a sore one, but they are a great side.
“Biggar also beat us 17-0 at home, when we had the chances but never took them.
“We took these ones on the chin, but they were three that hurt. We will just make sure that doesn’t happen again next year.”
Carson has freshened up his side in the final stages of the season, with a number of players from Highland’s Caledonia 2 North title-winning side being handed their chance.
A break ahead of a long season
The Highland head coach feels the Canal Park outfit are in a healthy position.
He added: “Club-wise, the seconds won their league again, while the thirds completed all their fixtures in the first time we have had a third team out for 10 or 15 years.
“There were some Saturdays when we had 66 senior players playing rugby for Highland, which is absolutely fantastic.
“It’s all got to be put down as a positive season.”
The start of this season ended an 18-month absence from National 1 action, as a result of the Covid pandemic.
Carson hopes his players can use the upcoming downtime to their benefit come the start of the new campaign.
He added: “Everyone needs a break. Some of the boys are going off to play some sevens, which is just a bit of fun.
“We will have a wee break before we start gathering everybody together for next year. We will enjoy it, as it’s a long season.
“The Covid thing has been a real pain in the backside, with all the hassles of cancelled games and boys testing positive.
“Hopefully we are through that now, and at the start of next season we will be fresh and everyone will be able to keep going through a full, uninterrupted season.
“We still have a good bit of depth there.”
