Coaching change is no excuse for Heriot’s

HERIOT’S have undergone another coaching change in the summer, with Phil Smith taking over from Graham Marshall at Goldenacre, but captain Graham Wilson is confident that the team will not repeat the errors of last season and use change as an excuse for poor early form.

The Edinburgh club slipped out of the top eight last season and had to fight their way back into the Premiership, alongside Edinburgh Accies, after a poor first half of the season. They came good in some style, eventually, and Wilson wants to see the spirit which marked the end of the season on display from the first kick-off at Gala tomorrow.

“After four years of the same coaching set-up it was maybe nevitable that we would take a bit of time to get used to the change,” he said, “and we saw that in the early part of last season.

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“We lost players from the previous season and had injuries, so that made it difficult early on, too. Last season, the turning point came around the introduction of two players – Fraser Brown and Rory Carmichael.

“Fraser came back to us after being released by Edinburgh and having some time out, and Rory, an inside centre, came back north after working in Leeds for a while. The impact the both had was significant, with Fraser providing a real presence in the back row and using all of his ability and experience from pro rugby to help the guys around about him, and Rory just making life really difficult for opposition sides.

“But when we started to get wins around Christmas, the squad began to have more belief in what we were doing and you saw the difference with us having a much better second half.

“We’ve had changes again with the coaches, but I’m confident that we can learn from last season and not allow ourselves to take so long to get to grips with things. Phil and Stevie [Lawrie, assistant coach] have already put their stamp on the squad and they know how they want us to play, and the players have brought the confidence from the way we finished last season through the summer.”

That may have been evident in a staggering 70-point thrashing of city rivals Watsonians in a pre-season friendly, which turned heads, but Wilson is experienced enough to know that pre-season – Watsonians were missing a host of players – can often have little bearing on the real business.

But it cannot do any harm either to the rising confidence Smith and Lawrie are striving to encourage at Goldenacre.

“The most pleasing thing about the game with Watsonians was that when it started to open up we still kept our shape, and it was great to run in that many tries. Marc Teague is back with us after nearly two seasons off with injury, and he scored four, and that’s great for his, and our confidence.

“We’re not getting carried away and I’m not looking too far ahead in the season. We are focused just on this weekend, and going down to Gala and winning, whether that is with a lot of tries or grinding it out and winning by a point.

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“It is going to be a very tough, competitive league and every game will count.”

Ground: Goldenacre

Head coach: Phil Smith

Captain: Graham Wilson

Players in: Rob Alexander (Nottingham University), Harry Boisseau (Stewart’s Melville), Nathan Burrell (Montpellier), Russell Nimmo (Newcastle University), Marc Teague (back from long-term injury).

Players out: Alan Dymock (London), Max Learmonth (Rotherham), Matt Reid (Aberdeen GSFP), Ruaridh Wilson (Glasgow Hawks).

Players to watch: Chris Mulligan (openside flanker) and Rory Carmichael (centre)

Last season: 9th in Premier One and won play-off

Prediction: 9th

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