Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Rugby: A perfect 10 but hard work still ahead for Gordonians in National 3

Gordonians have been relentless in National 3 this season. Image: Paul Glendell / DC Thomson
Gordonians have been relentless in National 3 this season. Image: Paul Glendell / DC Thomson

Gordonians will reach the halfway point as they bid to extend their lead at the top of National 3 this weekend but club president Matthew Brechin knows the hard yards still lie ahead.

The GoGos made it 10 wins out of 10 with an 83-14 win against Orkney last weekend with the result taking them six points clear of rivals West of Scotland.

Something has to give at West, who are also unbeaten with nine wins, but Brechin knows the hard work will continue regardless of the result.

He said: “The second half of the season is the toughest part. We’ve already experienced it.

“You see other clubs mentioning the fact they are playing the league leaders or that we’re unbeaten on social media and every game against us is presented as a big occasion.

“We’ll be a scalp for teams in the lower half of the league but our mindset has always been if we play our game we will blow most teams away.

“We hold ourselves to a high standard and we want to maintain the levels we’ve reached so far for the rest of the season.”

Brechin insists GoGos are ready for tough tests to come

The free-scoring rugby of last weekend’s home win against Orkney has been a common occurrence for the Aberdeen side this season which has averaged more than 50 points per game so far.

Brechin knows tougher tests lie ahead but insists the club is ready to face them head on.

He said: “When we won National 3 the last time we had some big wins where we scored more than 50 points but in the second half of the season it was much tougher with 10 point margins of victory in games.

“It requires different performances. You have to grind out the closely contested games and you can only do that if you are maintaining the intensity and commitment in training.

“We’ve been in this position before. We are a young team but we have some experienced guys who have been in this position before.

“They’ve been there, done it and got the T-shirt.”

Perfect records on the line at Burnbrae

Jim Greenwood and his players put their unbeaten record on the line at Burnbrae and Brechin knows the top of the table clash will be a huge test of Gordonians’ title credentials.

This is a game with huge ramifications at the top of the table and the club president knows it.

He said: “This is our biggest game of the year so far. West are undefeated as well and going down there is going to be a big challenge.

“But we have fronted up to every challenge we have faced so far and I’ve no doubt we will do so again.

Gordonians coach Jim Greenwood. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson
Gordonians coach Jim Greenwood. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson

“It is going to be tough, there’s no doubting it. The last time we played them was in 2019 which was the season we won promotion from National 3 and they beat us at their place.

“It was wet, the pitch was heavy and we were poor. They bullied us and deserved their win.

“We’re under no illusions about the size of the task facing us again this weekend but we are confident if we go and play our brand of rugby we will come out on top.”

Conversation