ROUND TWELVE PREVIEW:
So now that everyone has played each other once, we split into Premier Division (Walsh and Blair Cup) and First Division (Romano’s Cup). The Premier Division will be made up of Albury, Aggies, City, Waratahs, CSU and Temora while the First Division will comprise Cootamundra, Young, Griffith, Tumut and Leeton with RARC having forfeited for the remainder of the season. Temora deserve some wraps for busting into the Premier Division, it wasn’t so long ago that the Tuskers were a one team club and the fact that they have been as successful as they have been on the field is a credit to the hard work being done off the field as well.
PREMIER DIVISION:
Tahs (4) v CSU (5) @ Conolly Rugby Park
Waratahs were well served by their new RARC recruits last week against the Steamers and Coach Mick Barrett will be looking for similar performances from his troops this week against CSU. CSU lose Jack Burey for a couple of weeks due to a broken nose which will really disrupt things in the backline for them, particularly considering the University holidays are now in effect as well. Both teams are playing for a spot in the Top 4 now and this game is their best chance to earn some much needed competition points as both teams are tied on 37 points with Waratahs in 4th place based on For and Against. I would expect to see a tough forwards contest in this one – Waratahs may have a slight edge in the halves but CSU are the Tahs bogey team of late.
Aggies (2) v City (3) @ Beres Ellwood Oval +10 – MATCH OF THE ROUND
This is potentially City’s best shot at beating Aggies so far this season. City welcomed forever young #8 Joe Tora back to the fold last week against CSU and Joe helped keep the City juggernaut rolling on with some solid runs from the scrum base. Aggies were their usual clinical selves out in the MIA last week against the Phantoms with a particular standout performance from Dave Armsrong and will be looking for a similar result this weekend. This match could be decided by the battle of the 5/8’s with Dan Moloney up against Hamish Wrafter, now Wagga City may have an edge here given that Peter Armstrong and Chris Stott are both unavailable this weekend. Both teams have sizeable forward packs which will be a real highlight to watch and Aggies will be welcoming boom centre Tim Corcoran back through the reserve grades. This match will be a good indicator of how these teams will fair for the remainder of the split as there are no easy games in either division for the rest of the season.
Temora (6) v Albury (1) @ Temora Recreation Ground
Life will not be easy for the Tuskers this week as they take on the undefeated Steamers at Temora Recreation Ground. Albury have been in impeccable form to date and will travel to Temora with plenty of confidence for the first match of the split competition. Temora’s backline will be disappointed they didn’t fire as well as they could have last week and the likes of Campbell Maxwell and Bill McCrone will be keen to make amends this weekend. The matchup between Louie Levett and Adam Bensch will be one to watch in the backrow.
FIRST DIVISION:
Coota (7) v Tumut (10) @ Kuta Beach
Look out Tumut, here comes Cootamundra! This match is a real local derby and there is no love lost between the two towns. Cootamundra are not happy about being stuck in First Division again and are keen to show the First Division that they mean business while the Bulls are keen to keep working hard for the remainder of their 2012 campaign. I’m not sure what to expect in this match because it really hinges on availability for both teams, if both teams put their regular First Grade team on the paddock it will be a good solid match but you never know who is going to show up for these two clubs.
Young (8) v Griffith (9) @ Cranfield Oval
What’s happened to the Yabbies in recent weeks? They’ve hit some decent form in the later stages of the competition and are stringing a few wins together of late. Whatever Luke Eldridge has been doing for the last month, he’ll be keen to emulate for the remaining rounds of the competition. Griffith won’t be keen to trek over to Young particularly given the cold weekend forecasts.
Hay v Leeton – 2nd Grade Only @ Murrumbidgee College Fields