The old cliché of 'making the most opportunities when they're presented' certainly paid off for the Armidale Blues when they nabbed a win over the Barbarians in Saturday's charity shield.
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Mid-way through the second-half when the Blues held a 17-12 lead, courtesy of tries to Ian Ranger and Matthew Miles, the Baa Baas' George Chapman received a yellow card.
"The game was on the line until George Chapman got put in the bin and we were able to take advantage of the man overlap to score 12 points while he was in the bin which was the difference," Blues' co-coach Luke Stephen said.
"Up until then, the game was in the balance, it was 17-12, but the guys kept their nerve and when they needed to step up, they did."
The points came through a double to Sam Lomax before Edward Pitt sealed the match in the dying minutes, and knocked over the conversion too, the Blues winning the match 39-12
"It was a really spirited and tenacious performance," Stephen said of the Barbarians' efforts in the first hour of play.
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"They made it really hard for us to settle into our structures."
While he was happy of his team capitalising when they could, Stephen was critical of their discipline.
"Unfortunately, we had three yellow cards which isn't acceptable for the standard of discipline we set for ourselves," Stephen said.
"We can't give the opposition the opportunities like this because they are going to hurt us."
The fundraising efforts as part of the Charity Shield also proved a winner on the day with $2266 to be donated to the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute.
The Blues will be back at home this Saturday to Glen Innes whose first grade team is coming off a 77-5 drubbing at the hands of Tamworth.
Stephen isn't reading too much into their scoreline.
"Every week is a different game and is a different opportunity," he said.
"We know from our trial game against Glen Innes that we really struggled and had a tight trial game against them.
"We know they we will be better for the run and we will be better for the run so it sets up what will be a good, entertaining clash."