WALCHA Rams will be hoping for better fortunes when they and league counterparts the Roos play a home double header tomorrow.
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The two did the same back in the first round but were beaten in both – by Gunnedah in the union and Dungowan in the league.
Tomorrow they’ll be doing battle with Scone and Kootingal.
This time the union boys will kick things off, with the Brumbies second grade playing Pirates at noon and the Rams locking horns with the Brumbies from 1.30pm.
The Rams will be favoured to take the points after chalking up a big win over Barraba last week and getting the better of the Brumbies last time the two sides met.
That was the win that really announced the Rams’ return to form and put the nail in the coffin of the Brumbies making the top tier.
Since then they seem to be getting better and better.
“We’ve sort of hit our straps,” Walcha coach Andrew Crawford said.
Crawford has come in in the last month to help out and said the Brumbies would be a good judge of where they are.
He isn’t prescribing anything different to what they’ve been doing, aside from starting better.
It was probably the one fault from last week, and has been a bit of an issue their last few games.
Structure will again be a big focus, and they’ll be keen to get it to the edges as much as they can.
“Hopefully we can hit our wingers and do what Walcha does,” Crawford said.
The Brumbies head in low on confidence but feel a good performance tomorrow could turn their season around.
“It’s a big ask but we’re up for it,” co-coach Ben McRae said.
“We’re one win off kick-starting our season again.”
Last week against Tamworth one of the telling factors was they didn’t play for 80 minutes.
“Until we can start playing for 80 minutes it’s not going to happen for us,” McRae said.
“Last week we finished the better team but we gave too much of a lead,” he said.
It was the reverse of what happened in the first round but has unfortunately been a trend the past few weeks.
“This week we’ve worked on starting out of the blocks and not being dictated to,” McRae said.
Not waiting to see what the other team throws at them.
They certainly can’t afford to do that against a red-hot Rams outfit.
Another key for the Brumbies will be marking up on the Rams out wide.
“They’ve got a really potent back three and are good on the edges,” McRae said.
“That’s where they got us last time.”
“We’ve got to be disciplined with our kicking.
“It’s no use kicking to their back three. They counter-attack very well.”
In other games tomorrow, Tamworth is at home to Quirindi, while Gunnedah hosts Inverell and Moree and Narrabri clash in Moree.