The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
GoGos return and chase a famous 15
Gordonians captain Chris McIlroy insists his players’ focus will not falter as they return from a three-week break in National 3 tomorrow.
The league leaders have not played since their 38-21 win at Perthshire on January 28 which has allowed nearest challengers West of Scotland to close the gap to six points at the top of the table.
But McIlroy insists it is points rather than league positions which his side is focused on as they welcome bottom club Royal High to Countesswells.
He said: “We’ve got a job to do and we’re not taking league positions into consideration.
“We had been working on a few things which didn’t quite go to plan in the games in January so we’ve used the break to focus on the improvements we feel we need to make.
“We can do all the training we want but nothing can match the intensity of a competitive game on a Saturday afternoon and it will stand us in good stead to get some minutes back in the legs this weekend.”
With their rivals being in the fortunate position of having played during his club’s three-week break McIlroy knows it is important Gordonians continue where they left off. The Aberdeen side have a perfect record of 14 wins from 14 games and they are in no mood to let their excellent form slip.
McIlroy said: “It has been a longer break for us than most this time but we’ve trained regularly in the last three weeks.
“We’re at the critical stage of the season at this point.
“The focus is on keeping fit and the last thing we need is to go all out with full contact sessions and risking anyone suffering an injury in training.
“It’s an important fourweek block for us and we’ve felt like this was going to be a pivotal section of the season before the postponements.
“We have to go into every game with the mindset of having five points to play for and trying to win them all.
“We’ve had a good season so far but the home form remains the important part.
“That’s where we feel we are strongest and we want to play our best rugby at Countesswells.”
Royal High, in contrast, have one win from their 14 games and Gordonians are strong favourites to extend their fine winning record.
But McIlroy insists there is no complacency at his club.
He said: “Royal High is a good chance for us to try out some of the things we have been working on in training drills ahead of next week’s match at Hillhead/Jordanhill and the upcoming game against West of Scotland next month.
“Given we’ve had a longer break it has worked out better for us to have a home game against Royal High to come back to ahead of an important match next week.
“We want to win both of course.
“But clearly after a lay-off you want to get back at it with a home match.”
“It will stand us in good stead to get some minutes back in the legs