No room for complacency from Ross Sutherland as they head to Stonehaven
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Ross Sutherland will not be taking anything for granted against Mackie Academy this weekend, according to club captain Tom Bannerman.
On league position and form, the Stags should be the favourites to win.
Mackie have only won once this season, and have not played since the end of October, while Ross Sutherland put in a solid performance in a losing 41–29 effort against league leaders Aberdeenshire last weekend.
Still, complacency is a trap they have fallen into before – so it is one Bannerman is keen to avoid tomorrow.
“You have to take their record with a pinch of salt as well, because they might come out with a bit of fire in their belly,” he stressed.
“We can’t be complacent going down there, we just have to play our own rugby and hopefully that will be enough. We’ve done that before, we’ve seen where other teams are and how they’ve been doing and gone down and got a bit of a fright.
“We just have to go down as if they are top of the league and play like we did last weekend.”
Although their time off was not as long as Mackie’s, last week’s match was still the first in a while for Ross Sutherland after the winter break.
It has generally been a stop-start season with international breaks and Covid postponements, so to an extent it was just a relief to be back on the pitch.
“I didn’t know if it was ever going to happen again to be honest,” Bannerman said.
“It was nice to see all the boys in one place again, it really was just class to be back out.
“It has been a bit odd that it hasn’t been continuous rugby, and I think that’s been an issue for us because people aren’t sticking around as much as they would because they know games might not be on and that’s what excites people.
“Hopefully coming into this next season we will have a continuous season rather than one that’s a bit staggered.”
