ST Albert's College have "put down a marker" to the rest of the New England Rugby Union first grade competition with a 28-3 win over Tamworth on Saturday.
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Playing in front of a packed ladies-day crowd at Tamworth Rugby Park, Albies were rarely challenged after crossing early in the match.
A strong first-half performance saw Albies take a 11-3 lead into the half-time break.
Things only worsened for Magpies after half-time as Lachlan Ennis was shown a red card after a scuffle.
Albies co-coach Scott Waterson said the victory was the result "of a complete team performance".
"It's really hard to identify any real standout players from that game, everyone played really well," Waterson said.
"Will Burke, son of Magpies coach Peter Burke, was outstanding.
"As was our debutante fullback Toby Reardon.
"Overall, there really wasn't a bad player in our side today [Saturday]."
The victory doesn't alter Albies position on the New England ladder, with the side cementing third place after last week's 62-20 win over Barbarians.
"Today's result doesn't really change anything, except who goes into next week's games with their tails up," Waterson said.
"There is an absolutely unshakeable belief among the playing group that they can go all the way.
"This is the third time we have played in Tamworth this season, it was a massive crowd and we really enjoyed the game.
"I think we have now put down a marker to everyone that we are in it to win it, we're not making up numbers."
Magpies coach Burke said costly errors were the difference between the two sides on the day.
"If it could go wrong it went wrong for us today," Burke said.
"We couldn't seem to go near the ball without knocking it on at times.
"When you play like that you need to give a lot of credit to the opposition, who I thought got to the breakdown a lot quicker than us."
Burke said the loss would give his side "a lot to think about" before next weekend's major semi final against Robb College.
"If we get anything out of that game, hopefully it is a bit of a wake-up call," he said.
"We had a couple of injuries and a red card, so it's unclear what our side will look like next week.
"For now though, we have to regroup, circle the wagons and look forward to having a crack at Robb in Armidale next week."
Billy Jupp
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
