Both St Albert's College and the Barbarians will be aiming to leave the other win-less as they prepare to collide this Saturday.
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The two first grade teams were beaten convincingly by their round one opponents with Albies defeated 26-10 by Tamworth and the Baa Baas suffering a 43-nil loss at the hands of Walcha.
Last week, Albies co-coach Scott Waterson told The Armidale Express his squad were heading into the game underdone.
He believes it was the case but was quick to credit Tamworth.
"Tamworth were very good; well-drilled and focused on their work," he said.
"We played as well as we were allowed to play and Tamworth deserve credit for that.
"It was very obvious that you can't replace match play with training.
"We showed a little bit of ring-rust and our combinations weren't quite right."
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Waterson and off-sider Charles Franklin are very aware of the need to claim a win over the Baa Baas.
"We'll be better for having played together last week and each week we'll improve, but this comp is such a sprint that we can't really afford to lose any more games if we want to be there at semi time," Waterson said.
They'll also be doing it without a host of stars.
"Unfortunately we have suffered a few setbacks, a couple already out for what looks to be the season and a blue card as well, so we've had to do some re-organising for this week," Waterson said.
"That said, we'll be competitive and we have no excuses."
The Baa Baas got through the loss to Walcha relatively unscathed.
Despite the 43-nil scoreline, coach Scott Bremner was upbeat about their efforts against the classy Rams.
"From last weekend there were a lot more positives than there were negatives," he said.
"Even though we were beaten quite convincingly on the scoreboard, plenty of the Walcha players said it was a tougher game than the scoreboard indicated.
"Our scrums and line outs were poor at best and we have been doing a fair bit of work at training to improve those, we have just got to secure our own ball."
After having an introduction to what has been touted the best backline in country rugby in round one, Bremner is hoping his players will have learned from that when they face the speedy students.
"Still a very tough opposition and a big ask but we will be much more competitive this week," he said.
"They like to spin it wide and they generally have plenty of pace and their structures are generally pretty good.
"They are well-coached by Scotty Waterson and there's not many more crafty than Chuck."