The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Premier reward all the incentive Wyness needs
Rugby union: Shire coach already thinking of Heriot’s cup tie
Aberdeenshire coachKevin Wyness believes t he prospect of taking on Premiership opposition can drive his players to success in the BT Cup.
The Woodside men host fellow National 2 promot i on- chasers Cartha Queen’s Park in the second round of the competition tomorrow.
The winners will face National 3 side RHC in the third round, with Premiership title-chasers Heriot’s the likely quarter-finals opponents and Wyness said: “It has been such a stop-start season because of the fixture cancellations so we want to go as far as we can in the cup and do as well as we can in the league.
“We have a young side butwewanttowinasmany matches as we can.
“If we beat Cartha and then RHC we have the opportunity to come up against a Premiership club, Heriot’s, in the quarters.
“I think all of the players would be keen to see how we would fare against that standard of opposition.
“It is also an opportunity for the likes of Matthew Emmison, who was involved in a recent Scotland under-20s training camp, to show the SRU what he can do at that level.
“But first we have to put our full focus on this weekend as Cartha are a good team and are well coached but it is always an advantage to be at home in a cup tie.
“The central- based teams tend not to enjoy travelling up to Aberdeen so we have an opportunity to do something.”
Shire go into this weekend’s match in buoyant mood after an excellent 49-5 victory against Biggar on Saturday.
Wyness hopes his side can keep the momentumat Woodside tomorrow and added: “The players were great last Saturday. It has been a difficult start to the year because of the weather disruption.
“Games have been postponed and it has even been difficult to train outside.
“Trying to keep everyone fit and, more importantly, enthusiastic has been the challenge. But they showed a great attitude on Saturday and were very focused on getting the win.
“Hopefully we can keep that up until the end of the season as we still have an opportunity to win promotion from this league.”
Shire will be forced to make one change from the side that wonlast weekend, with centre Jason Laurich missing out.
Wyness added: “We are nearly at full strength but Jason won’t play.
“He suffered a head knock last weekend. It has to be taken seriously, so it will be an opportunity for someone else.” Aberdeenshire scrum half Scott Simpson believes Saturday’s win against Biggar was his team’s best display of the season.
The Woodside men kept their National 2 promotion push on course with a 49-5 win against the South Lanarkshire side.
Shire turn their attention to the BT Cup tomorrow with a second-roundmatch at home to Cartha Queen’s Park.
Simpson is optimistic his side can deliver another winning performance and said: “It was good to get a run out last Saturday because we have had so many postponements. We played some of our best rugby. It was a good performance.
“The league takes a back seat nowas we focus on the cup. If we win on Saturday we will play in the third round the following weekend against RHC, so, hopefully, we will have two home games in the cup on the bounce.
“Thegamewewantto set up is against Heriot’s in the quarter-finals as they are a Premiership side and it would be good to test ourselves against high-level opposition.”
Shire ran out 22- 10 winners against Cartha when the sides met on league duty at Woodside in November.
The recent weather disruptionsmeantheGlasgow club has played only two matches in 2016, but has impressed in both.
A 31-24 defeat by league leaders Hamilton was followed by a 50-12 win against Lasswade and Simpson expects a difficult matchagainst theteamone place above them in the league table.
He added: “They’re one of the tougher sides to play. They are well organised and always work hard for the full 80 minutes.”
“A tough game – no matter where they are in the league” “Keen to see how we would fare against that standard”