The battle of the two college-based clubs always shapes up to be an interesting battle and the first one of 2021 was no different.
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Whenever speaking about the university rivals' clashes, coaches, players and supporters allude to the fact no matter where each team sits on the table, there's always fire on the field when the clubs collide.
This time around it was St Albert's College who claimed bragging rights over Robb College with a 30-20 triumph in the first grade game.
And Albies' head coach Niel Van Der Linde said the game lived up to the hype.
"It was almost like playing for a premiership, it was that sort of game," he said.
"It was just tit for tat, tit for tat, and whoever made a mistake was going to lose.
"I expected them [Robb] to be really good when they came out because they came back after the uni holidays, had a week and then us.
"They are a really good team, they played well."
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Van Der Linde applauded his side's defence against Robb but said their execution once again let them down.
"I thought our defence was really, really good, outstanding," he said.
"We put ourselves under a lot of pressure because of skill execution - it was pretty bad.
"That didn't help us.
"Robb did defend very well though and they were very good at the breakdown."
He also lamented the conditions.
"It was a wet pitch, they left the sprinklers on overnight, so we were pretty much playing in mud, which had a massive effect on the game," he said.
"No one could anything going properly so it was a real arm wrestle.
"It was frustrating."
Albies will have to perform better this Saturday when they face an Armidale Blues team coming off a bye and two wins before.
Van Der Linde believes it will give them an idea of where they sit in the competition.
"They have some old heads there so they do some unexpected things out of the box, spur of the moment sort of stuff," he said.
"They will just do things off-the-cuff."
Van Der Linde also wanted to send out a reminder to players across the Zone he is keeping an eye out for those who want to play for New England at the Country Championships in Tamworth on June 12 and 13.
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