Holders Kingussie take on Kinlochshiel in the Artemis Macaulay Cup Semi-Finals this Saturday at Braeview Park, Beauly. We spoke to Kingussie wing-centre, Cameron Bremner ahead of the big game. Another interview, with Shiel star Conor Cormack is available here.

A big game on Saturday Cameron, how has the club been preparing for the Macaulay Semi?

Yes another big game for the club on Saturday against Kinlochshiel, it is going to be tough it always is against them, but we’re ready. We’ve been training hard in preparation for this semi-final.

You’ve been in the last 3 Macaulay Finals, does that give you confidence or is there a level of expectation there?

Kingussie have been in the last 3 finals so  this gives confidence throughout the squad, but cup games always come with big challenges especially now in the latter stages of the cup.

It’s been well documented that Kingussie have had their share of injuries/absentees, how have the squad adapted to that?

Unfortunately yes we’ve been struck with a lot of injuries again this season which is far from ideal, but the young ones that have come up from the second team have taken there chances and proved they can step up to the level. This also gives more competition for places all over the park.

Kinlochshiel were the last team to win a Senior National trophy not called Kingussie, what kind of threat do you expect from them?

Kinlochshiel are a very physical and fit team, they’re strong all over the park, take their chances well and they also defend aggressively too. So we’ll be expecting a good battle on Saturday.

Over the last 4 meetings between these sides, Shiel have won 2 and Kingussie have won 2, would you say they are your biggest challengers in the hunt to win the Grand Slam again this year?

Yes, they never started to well the first couple of games but they have had a lot of away games at the start which means there left with home games mostly which you’d expect them to keep picking up the points to challenge the top of the table.