This Saturday, the shinty world descends upon Bught Park, Inverness for the Tulloch Homes Camanachd Cup Final. We caught up with Kingussie star Ruaridh Anderson to preview the big fixture.

Ruaridh, Saturday is the big one, the Tulloch Homes Camanachd Cup Final. How are the team preparing for the game? Do you do anything different for the big occasions and how do you handle the nerves?

We’ve been training well, everyone is pulling their weight and putting in a good shift, undoubtedly boosted by the added incentive of what’s to play for on Saturday. In terms of the weekly training schedule not much really changes for us before big games. On a personal level I like to get down to the Dell during the week to get some much needed shooting practice which helps to mentally prepare for the game as well, this potentially preventing nerves as they don’t tend to affect me other than just buzzing to get going.

Oban Camanachd are the opponents on Saturday, a team you will be very familiar with at this stage, what do you make of them, what are their strengths and how can you counteract them?

Yeah definitely a very strong outfit and I don’t think anyone can complain with what they’ve achieved so far this season. Their fitness is definitely a contributing factor to this success coincided with great team morale and determination to succeed. In terms of counteracting them I think we need to focus on ourselves and what we can control on the day, playing to our own strengths opposed to worrying about theirs.

The Macaulay Final obviously didn’t go your way against the same opposition, do you think there are lessons to be learned from that game or was it just a case of bad luck?

I think the better team on the day won the Macaulay cup. We only have ourselves to blame, our second half in particular wasn’t good enough which of allowed a strong team like Oban Camanachd to punish our mistakes all over the park. We have since regrouped, reflected on, and hopefully identified what went wrong on that day and as a team know what needs improving come Saturday.

On a personal note, it has been another successful scoring season bagging 13 so far, just one behind top scorer James Falconer. We saw James and Roddy score last year, obviously Savio did it in 2014, what would it mean for you to be the hero come Saturday? 

Scoring in numbers has been a struggle for us all season and unfortunately my game has been lacking goals for as long as I can remember. Adding more goals to my game is definitely an aspiration every season. As special as it would be, to be on the score sheet as a Camanachd cup winner; taking that trophy home with us on Saturday is all myself, and the team are focussed on. I’m just happy to contribute to the team in any way I can whether that’s putting the ball in the net or not.

A lot of people will still be making Kingussie favourites ahead of Saturday, does that bring pressure with it or is that something the team enjoys?

Playing for a team like Kingussie with such a rich history brings pressure in itself whether you’re playing in a final or not. I’d say this pressure is definitely a good thing providing extra motivation to push ourselves to achieve as much as we can and constantly seek improvements in all aspects of our game. On the other hand, any pressure can provide us with the reassurance that we are where we strive to be as a club and a reminder that we are capable of competing for trophies at the top of the game.

You will well remember the celebrations last year and the feeling around the village, does that make you even more determined to win come Saturday?

The backing from the community is brilliant and seeing so many people brought together in support is amazing. This Saturday will be no different in that we’ll take a great crowd to Inverness who will be trying to get behind us as much as possible to help us over the line- which definitely does. By taking this cup home and generating such a good atmosphere throughout the town over the course of the weekend celebrations is probably as good a thanks to the supporters we as a team can repay.  This definitely provides us with enough encouragement to give it our all to get the trophy home to give back what we can.