Bad Week For The Seniors

The Senior Squads season came of the rails this week, with no less than 36 players unavailable for the matches at Banff and Ellon.

With the Greens struggling for a side, Reds coaches James Hay and Alistair Mackenzie, were left with no option but to pull the fixture. This leaves them in a difficult position for the rest of the season, as the SRU rules that if this happens twice then they could be removed from the league.

It's a real shame that this has happened so early in the season and when the Reds were undefeated at the top of the league. They will now face a four point reduction and have to play the game at a later date.

The Greens meanwhile traveled to Ellon with a patched up squad of 16 players including Roman, Mike Hasson, Andrew "Tattie" Shaw, Kyle Bruce, Andy Stott and Craig Irvine, who all stepped up from the Reds.

The squad was hampered further with none of the back line who started against Orkney, with the exception of Gareth High, who had moved to number 8, being able to make the journey.

The boys were well beaten in the end against a side that Highland, when at full strength will be capable of beating. Hopefully we can reverse the result when we visit in the Shield in November.

The only score of the day came at the end when Kevin Brown barged over for a try. The day was topped of with a serious looking knee injury for Ewan Watson who had to be replaced after 15 minutes.

Player Coach High, Craig Little and James Hay had all worked hard during the week to get numbers out and had exhausted all options of players for the match.

With already 11 players unavailable for the coming matches against Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen Uni, it looks like it could be another tough week. There is a desperate need for front row players with props Stephen Murray (suspended), Jamie Strachan and Neil Walker injured, Stuart Anderson and Rob Russel on holiday and Andy Beattie working, all amongst that list.

Players are asked to get in touch with the respective coaches to let them now their availability to avoid hours of phone calls and emailing.