This year’s New England Rugby competition is anyone’s game with points on the ladder closer than ever.
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Last-start winners against Tamworth, the Barbarians meet St Albert’s College who were pipped by Robb in a thrilling encounter.
The Baa Baas took confidence out of their win over the Magpies and co-coach Damien Biddle is hoping they can continue where they left off when they face the reigning premiers.
“It is definitely a big game for both teams. Albies had that loss to Robb last week so they will be reeling from losing to their arch-rivals and we have a bit of momentum from our win over Tamworth and we are looking to keep the ball rolling with that,” he said.
“We just have to match them for intensity.
“They like to shift the ball around so we have to have faith in our defensive structures and play a bit of expansive rugby ourselves.”
Biddle said the Tamworth game saw his side pull together what they had been aiming to do.
“We have been putting a lot of work at training on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” he said.
“Last week saw signs of improvement we knew we were capable of and starting to apply a lot of things we have been working.
“We are not getting ahead of ourselves either.
“There is still a lot of footy to be played, one win is just one win, it is not a premiership, we haven't really achieved anything yet.”
Biddle said he and co-coach Greg Wynn are hoping to keep an unchanged line-up from the Tamworth clash.
“Last week it seemed like they were starting gel and things we wanted them to execute started to make sense and there was a bit more clarity so it would serve them well to stick to the same side if we can,” he said.
While Albies may have lost on the scoreboard, they were still close to their best against their university rivals.
Coach Chris Kelly said it was “just a good game of footy” and Robb were better on the day.
“From our perspective, we could have done things a lot better but for 80 per cent of that game we played well,” he said.
“In some ways that it was probably better we had that loss against Robb. If we had snuck home for a win the lesson which needed to be learned may not have sunk in.”
With the Barbarians finding their feet and a tight competition, Kelly believes his team will have to rise to the challenge again.
“You have to be on your game or you will come second on the day,” he said.
“They [Baa Baas] notched up a win against a team who, in many ways, pushed us right to the edge so I think there won't be any complacency or any reason to take them lightly.
“Anyone can beat anyone on their day in this competition so I think it is going to be a challenging day out.
“It is always going to be physical against the Baa Baas, they are a bigger, probably less mobile, pack. They have been knocking on the door most of the year, no one has really put a lot of points on them so they are going to be formidable.”