Border Telegraph | Sport | Gregor believes

Monday, 8th September, 2008

Published: Wednesday, 14th December, 2005 11:18

Gregor believes

By Border Telegraph Sport

GREGOR Townsend believes that Border Reivers will get a result when they face Brive for the second time in six days at the weekend.

After their 25-22 win over the French in the European Challenge Cup on Sunday, the Reivers will go into the return fixture with confidence, but know that it will be a different game on Saturday night.

Townsend expects to be fit to play after coming through a difficult 80 minutes. “I got a whack on my knee, and my ankle was fatiguing near the end. I am delighted to get this chance.

“I know Steve (Bates) took a bit of a gamble as I had not played for a while. I was pleased to last the whole 80 minutes.”

Looking ahead to the game at Stade Chaban Delmas, he said: “It will be very hard. We will have to ‘up’ our game and our finishing, and we can give them a good challenge. There will be a great atmosphere and a tremendous learning experience for us.

“Even if we do not win, we will come back with a lot of lessons learned.”

“It will be a tougher game when we go over there,” added assistant coach George Graham. “But we have to be positive in the way we played on Sunday.

“We will highlight the problems when we regroup this week and be ready for them in France.

“I do not think we have anything to panic about, and we will try and remedy the areas we need to look at.

“These are important matches and the opportunity for players to put their markers down. We have aspirations to progress in this competition as far as we can go. The more you win, the more confidence you get, so we want to win every game.”

Graham believes that Townsend can play a key role.

“He’s a fantastic player, a big-game player. He has great organisation and skill levels which help everyone out, and his communication is also excellent.

“He told us not to expect too much on Sunday, but he did well to play the full 80 minutes.”

The game in France kicks off at 6.30 p.m.

In the league, the last round of matches before the festive break, Hawick head for Aberdeen while Melrose are at home to Currie.

In Division 2, Gala make a tricky journey to Murrayfield Wanderers while Selkirk, after their defeat of the Maroons, will be at home to Haddington.

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