TAMWORTH will tackle Narrabri tomorrow with a renewed spark of confidence after notching their first win for the season last week.
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The 43-17 win over Gunnedah was a timely boost for the Magpies as they prepare for a difficult couple of weeks.
After the Blue Boars they’ve got arch rivals Pirates.
“I don’t think we could have afforded another loss,” Magpies co-captain Mitch Wheaton said.
The second rower has been promoted to lead them this season alongside number eight come hooker Sanimo Navatu, and said the win has given them a lot more confidence for the Blue Boars.
It has been a bit of a scratchy start as they try to feel their way with new faces and new combinations, especially in the backline.
On Saturday they started strongly, jumping out to a 10-3 lead after 12 minutes, and then 24-3 before letting the Red Devils back in, Jeremy Brown’s try on half-time making it 24-17 at the break.
“To their credit their (Gunnedah) tempo definitely picked up in the second half,” Wheaton said.
There was a fair bit in the first part of the second half with both sides having some discipline issues and it remained at seven points until around 12 minutes to go.
Wheaton leading up to that thought they needed to bring it in a bit tighter.
“I thought we might have been pushing a few passes,” he said.
It clicked for them in the last 12, running in three unanswered tries to get up by 26.
It was a bit of a rollercoaster but there was a lot for coaches Mark Daley, Kevin Rooney and Tony Mills to be enthused about.
“The scrum was good,” Daley said.
“We were happy with the lineout and the option taking between Blanchy (Matt Blanch) and James Hall was better than it has been the first couple of weeks.”
They are a new combination and still trying to find their feet together.
Something else he would have been pleased to see was the interplay between the forwards.
“One of our strengths last year was being able to move the ball in the forwards,” Wheaton said.
“Starting with a new side this year, we’ve made it back a bit simpler.”
“Hopefully we can keep that game going.”
He thought their defence was probably the area of biggest improvement on the first two weeks.
“I think our defence as a team was a lot better,” he said.
“In parts in the Walcha game and the Inverell game we were good around the ruck for instance and good out wide but we couldn’t gel it together.”
At the other end of the spectrum one of the areas they’ll need to be more effective in against the Blues Boars is the breakdown.
The Red Devils put a lot of pressure on them there.
They can’t afford to let the Blue Boars outmuscle them there.
“We need to make sure we’re committed but not overcommitted,” Wheaton said.
In the other games tomorrow Gunnedah is at home to Walcha, Pirates host Quirindi, Moree travel to Scone and Inverell and Barraba clash in Inverell.
