THE best remedy for a loss is a win. That’s the attitude Scone is taking into its trip to Barraba tomorrow.
The Brumbies were bitterly disappointed after losing after the bell to Gunnedah last week.
But rather than wallow in that, the Brumbies are intent on making amends against the Rams.
“As I said to the boys on Tuesday, they owe it to themselves and deserve an emphatic win,” Brumbies coach Jeff Watt said.
“We’ve played well against the top four sides without getting across the line.”
That’s not to say they’re expecting tomorrow to be easy, quite the opposite in fact.
It will be a tough trip but they know they’re capable of pulling off a win.
“We went up there this time last year and beat them,” Watt said.
They also took the points when they met back in the first round with a 24-13 win.
Watt expects them to be better tomorrow.
They are taking a much stronger side to Barraba than they fielded then.
He didn’t feel there was a lot they needed to fix up from last week.
“I was happy with everything about last week except the result,” Watt said.
They stuck to the game plan and put the Red Devils under pressure.
He’d probably just like to see the set pieces function a bit better.
“That was a bit off the pace last week,” he said.
In contrast, the Rams are coming off a win and feel it is a winnable game.
“We have the potential to win it,” coach Luke Smith said.
They’re at home, and are starting to get some of their injured players back.
The big plus tomorrow will be the return of Trent Meisner.
Meisner has missed the past few weeks but was one of their best up to then.
He’s likely to slot back into the centres, with Gideon Lambrechts moving to breakaway.
The South African played there for a couple of games and went well.
Smith said the win over Tamworth last week had been a confidence boost, especially the way their defence held up.
Now it’s a matter of getting their attack right. When they control the ball they do look dangerous but they’ve been prone to giving back to the opposition too easily.
“It’s a matter of holding onto it (the ball) a bit longer,” Smith said.
“Controlling it more in attack. We try to score two quickly.”
That then leads to mistakes and they’re back defending.
“We waste too much energy defending. That’s our problem,” Smith said.
Their clash won’t have any bearing on the finals but there are a couple of games that will, with Gunnedah hosting Walcha, Inverell at home to Moree, Tamworth travelling to Narrabri and Pirates taking on Quirindi.
