JOE Druce has plenty of fond memories of playing at Armidale’s Bellevue Oval.
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This weekend he’ll be trading his familiar Albies colours for the blue, green and white of New England, and hoping to create a few more.
The hooker has been given the honour of captaining the New England opens side, and come Sunday afternoon would love to be looking at that familiar grandstand holding aloft the Richardson Shield.
“It should be a good weekend,” he said. “Everyone’s pretty keen.”
This weekend will be the agriculture/business students’ last campaign with the Lions. He played with the U20s three years ago and then the seniors in 2014.
“I thought I’d give it another crack,” he said. “Especially being at home.”
That has created a bit of an extra buzz. They’ve had just the one hitout against Central North to get a gauge from, but took a lot of encouragement out of how they went, Druce said, especially in the forwards.
“Obviously Central North are in the top tier this year,” he said. “They’ve got big forwards and are very experienced.”
But they stood up to them well and were “very competitive at scrum time”.
That’s always one of the big tests. Druce indicated they will be looking to play an up tempo game – something he’s pretty familiar with.
It’s how Albies like to play. “We are pretty mobile around the field,” he said. “Our aim is to get the speed of the game up and try and run the other sides off their feet.”
And being unpredictable in how they do it. Former Country rep Ollie Bartlett is back to his best and will be one of the keys in the forwards for them.
“He’s very much looking forward to this weekend,” Druce said of his Albies team-mate. “He’s a great defender and dominant in attack.”
Another who has been in great form is Robb skipper Will Archer.
“He’s a very good ball runner and very dynamic in attack,” he said.
His club front-row partner Charlie French has also been playing well and is very good around the park.
Druce is also excited about the potential in the backs, particularly in the midfield where Armidale’s Navi Tiko and John Roberts will pair up.
Tiko is a great ball runner, while Roberts is one of the most dynamic players in the competition. They’ll be led around by Country U20s rep last year Dan Sweeney, who will slot into five-eighth.
Albies’ fullback, Sweeney has worn 10 before, and as Druce has witnessed on many occasion has an uncanny knack of slipping through the defensive line.
They’ve drawn Far North Coast first up, which should, he said, be a good challenge.
