Another mammoth journey beckons for ORFC

Orkney RFC are preparing for another weekend of travelling the length of the country as they take a break from league duty and get their first taste of BT Cup action when they take on Jed-Forest in the Borders tomorrow afternoon.

The team is due to leave Orkney tonight on Northlink Ferries, arriving into Aberdeen tomorrow morning. From there, they are to leave at 8am for the four and a half hour bus journey to Jedburgh, which is only ninety minutes away from Newcastle. Orkney are then set to leave immediately after the match, which is scheduled to kick off at 2pm, and travel by bus up to Thurso, a distance of 312 miles, where they will spend the night, returning to the county on Sunday morning.

Captain, Alan Brown said that the trip will “definitely be the longest in the BT Cup this year” but felt that the boys were coping fine and knew that, with gaining promotion last year, that there would be some long away journeys this season.

“I think the boys are coping fine, we put the hard work in last season so that we could play at this standard and we knew what was in store. We have a lot of long trips ahead of us yet, but we usually always have good ‘craic’ so hopefully the boys are looking forward to them!” However, he did say that Orkney were “really struggling” for players this weekend.

Jed-Forest will provide a stern test of Orkney’s credentials, who will be massive underdogs against a side currently plying their trade two divisions higher in BT National League Division 1. Scotland great, Gary Armstrong as well as former internationalists, Gavin Kerr and Rory Laidlaw are just some of the notable names that have represented Jed-Forest in the past and the Borders side will be confident of winning, what is thought to be, the first ever meeting of the two sides.

However, despite the odds being stacked in the home sides favour, Alan said that this game is a good opportunity to test themselves against quality opposition. “If we go into this game with the right frame of mind, then we might just surprise ourselves, and them. I’ve played against their sevens team before but it’s obviously completely different. I’ve never played them at fifteens and I’m not sure if Orkney have played them before or not, but it is going to be a fair test for us. I think that if we had our strongest team possible, we would definitely give them a run for their money. This weekend we’ll just go out all guns blazing and see how we get on, we’re the under dogs so all the pressure is on them!”

With Dumfries and Berwick yet to come in the league, this won’t be the only journey to the Borders for Orkney this season.