yourmatesam
Desmond Connor (43)
ROUND THREE:
CSU (4) v RARC (12)
Jack Burey had a handy game at halfback for the Reddies last Friday night, and CSU will miss his ability to marshal his forward pack and provide good service to Paul Hood this week due to an ankle injury. Although RARC were on the wrong end of an 11 try romp by the Steamers last weekend, their effort and spirit cannot be faulted. Aaron Louden lead his team around the field with discipline and control which is something he will need to do again this week. The RARC backline is their strength at this stage of the season with some hard running centres playing hard and fast rugby which is great to watch. I would expect CSU to control this game with tactical kicking and set piece play.
Tahs (6) v Temora (11)
Tahs are coming off a historic loss to City last week and will surely come out with all guns blazing against the Tuskers at Conolly Park. Without star centre Pat Barrett and 5/8 Xavier Chigwidden, the Tahs seemed to lack direction in the backline and spent too much time drifting the ball away from their support play last week. Temora’s strength is in their backline and they will need to show off their confrontational defensive technique to turn Tahs around tomorrow. Temora’s fitness may be the deciding factor in this match, depending on how they make use of their bench players.
Albury (1) v Griffith (7)
This is a close one, although Albury easily accounted for RARC last week I’m sure they would admit that they have plenty to work on at this stage of the season. Griffith are probably in a similar position, where they didn’t fire in Round One and barely got up over Young at home. Griffith need their forwards to ante up against the Albury pack and will also look to maintain their discipline in defence in order to starve the Steamers of possession. Travel is always an issue for the Blacks, my gut feeling is that Albury will be strong at home and Griffith will have their work cut out for themselves here.
Young (5) v Leeton (9)
Young will be happy to be playing at Cranfield Oval again this week after coming oh so close to knocking off Griffith at the Coro Club Oval. Leeton have had a decent enough start to the season so far with only the one loss against a much improved Cootamundra outfit last weekend. At home, Young will be confident of scalping the Phantoms here but should not take the Leeton boys lightly as they have some dominant players in Bill Bevan and Dave Sinclair in their forward pack alongside a more youthful backline than previous seasons.
Coota (3) v Aggies (2) MATCH OF THE ROUND
Another week of beach rugby over at Cootamundra! Aggies have a glut of players at present and welcome back gun halfback Peter Armstrong to 1st grade after he was forced to play reserve grade last week due to Aggies selection policy. If you can afford to leave Peter Armstrong out of your first grade side, things must be pretty bloody rosy!! Cootamundra have been working hard over the offseason and have plenty to prove at home here. This game will let Coota know where they are at at this early stage of the competition. Graham Hardie is skippering his side again this week and I’m sure that he will put in his usual measured performance, his combination with Bob Scott on counter attack will be a key to Cootamundra making the most of this one. Tim Corcoran is another Aggies player who had to come back through seconds due to their strong numbers, he will also be a central part of Aggies go-forward tomorrow.
Tumut (10) v City (8)
Tim Graham’s boys did their best against Aggies for the first 20 minutes or so, but eventually caved to the might of Ag College. It’s always hard backing up after such a big loss, but they should be a different outfit at home. City are rolling along nicely at the moment, third round in and they haven’t put a full strength side together which gives them the opportunity to work on some combinations which is always important. Keegan Thornhill and Rambo Lagaali played some great footy last week and hopefully they can put in another similar performance this week in the hills.
CSU (4) v RARC (12)
Jack Burey had a handy game at halfback for the Reddies last Friday night, and CSU will miss his ability to marshal his forward pack and provide good service to Paul Hood this week due to an ankle injury. Although RARC were on the wrong end of an 11 try romp by the Steamers last weekend, their effort and spirit cannot be faulted. Aaron Louden lead his team around the field with discipline and control which is something he will need to do again this week. The RARC backline is their strength at this stage of the season with some hard running centres playing hard and fast rugby which is great to watch. I would expect CSU to control this game with tactical kicking and set piece play.
Tahs (6) v Temora (11)
Tahs are coming off a historic loss to City last week and will surely come out with all guns blazing against the Tuskers at Conolly Park. Without star centre Pat Barrett and 5/8 Xavier Chigwidden, the Tahs seemed to lack direction in the backline and spent too much time drifting the ball away from their support play last week. Temora’s strength is in their backline and they will need to show off their confrontational defensive technique to turn Tahs around tomorrow. Temora’s fitness may be the deciding factor in this match, depending on how they make use of their bench players.
Albury (1) v Griffith (7)
This is a close one, although Albury easily accounted for RARC last week I’m sure they would admit that they have plenty to work on at this stage of the season. Griffith are probably in a similar position, where they didn’t fire in Round One and barely got up over Young at home. Griffith need their forwards to ante up against the Albury pack and will also look to maintain their discipline in defence in order to starve the Steamers of possession. Travel is always an issue for the Blacks, my gut feeling is that Albury will be strong at home and Griffith will have their work cut out for themselves here.
Young (5) v Leeton (9)
Young will be happy to be playing at Cranfield Oval again this week after coming oh so close to knocking off Griffith at the Coro Club Oval. Leeton have had a decent enough start to the season so far with only the one loss against a much improved Cootamundra outfit last weekend. At home, Young will be confident of scalping the Phantoms here but should not take the Leeton boys lightly as they have some dominant players in Bill Bevan and Dave Sinclair in their forward pack alongside a more youthful backline than previous seasons.
Coota (3) v Aggies (2) MATCH OF THE ROUND
Another week of beach rugby over at Cootamundra! Aggies have a glut of players at present and welcome back gun halfback Peter Armstrong to 1st grade after he was forced to play reserve grade last week due to Aggies selection policy. If you can afford to leave Peter Armstrong out of your first grade side, things must be pretty bloody rosy!! Cootamundra have been working hard over the offseason and have plenty to prove at home here. This game will let Coota know where they are at at this early stage of the competition. Graham Hardie is skippering his side again this week and I’m sure that he will put in his usual measured performance, his combination with Bob Scott on counter attack will be a key to Cootamundra making the most of this one. Tim Corcoran is another Aggies player who had to come back through seconds due to their strong numbers, he will also be a central part of Aggies go-forward tomorrow.
Tumut (10) v City (8)
Tim Graham’s boys did their best against Aggies for the first 20 minutes or so, but eventually caved to the might of Ag College. It’s always hard backing up after such a big loss, but they should be a different outfit at home. City are rolling along nicely at the moment, third round in and they haven’t put a full strength side together which gives them the opportunity to work on some combinations which is always important. Keegan Thornhill and Rambo Lagaali played some great footy last week and hopefully they can put in another similar performance this week in the hills.
