Armidale Blues have one more chance to qualify for the New England Rugby Union grand final.
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The Blues missed out on snagging the first spot after Robb College defended their way to a win in Saturday’s major semi-final but, thanks to finishing the season as minor premiers, Armidale will get another shot when they face the Barbarians for the preliminary final.
In the encounter against Robb, co-coach Luke Stephen was pleased with the performance in patches but said it will take an 80 minute showing to get over the line against the Barbarians.
“We were good for parts but not good for the 80,” he said.
“It was not desirable to lose but it gives us a chance to still stay alive and hopefully improve this week.
“One of the positives for us is we came through unscathed so we are able to pick our strongest side this weekend.
“We know we didn't play our best on Saturday and that is encouraging in terms of that we know that we can play better and we look forward to putting a better performance on the field this Saturday against our opposition.”
The Blues have beaten their coming opponents three times from three matches this season but Stephen said it doesn’t necessarily give them an advantage heading into a do-or-die game.
“It nice to have come in knowing that you can defeat your opposition but once again it comes back to it is finals football and the winners go another week and the losers go home,” he said.
“Everything up until this Saturday means absolutely nothing now, it is win or go home for both us and our opposition. You will have 30 people on the field that will be fairly desperate to go one more Saturday.”
Earlier this week, Stephen’s counterpart in Baa Baas co-coach Greg Wynn, said his team are confident they have the ability to topple the Blues and land a spot in the big dance.
“The first time we played, they were far too good for us and we were in a different league at that stage but the last two games we have been very competitive with them, just probably didn't take our opportunities when they had arisen,” he said.
“They probably have the wood on us, but only just, so we take some confidence that we have the ability to go with them but we understand that we have to be at our best to do that.”
The Baa Baas only just beat St Albert’s in the minor semi-final after helping the students back into the game via penalties and Wynn said they have to be sharper this Saturday or the Blues will make them pay.
“We addressed that already, that if we turn out a pretty similar performance to that one this coming weekend will probably be the end of us so we need to significantly improve,” he said.