THE CSU side’s quest to add to their lone win in Central West Rugby Union first grade will only get tougher tomorrow when they have to go to Orange to take on reigning premiers the Emus.
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Not only are the Emus the defending champions, they are the current competition leaders and sit above Forbes, having taken a bonus point from all four of their wins to date this season.
They are averaging 47 points for and just 10 against in 2016, and realistically even this early in the competition they deserve outright favouritism to go back to back.
CSU coach Pip McIntosh is under no illusions as to the magnitude of his side’s task.
“It is going to be very, very difficult,” he said.
“I genuinely believe we can compete with anyone and we’ve shown it for periods against the Forbes and Orange City sides who we competed with, and who look very strong at this stage.
“But Emus are a team that we know are going to be thereabouts at the end of the year and if we are a little bit off against them we’re going to be in trouble.
“In the next three rounds we have Emus, Dubbo ’Roos and Bathurst Bulldogs, so our job doesn’t get any easier.”
Like the Forbes and City games, last Saturday’s loss to Cowra was an exercise in missed opportunities for the students, who led 7-5 at half-time against the Eagles before going down 17-7.
Easily turned-over ball, lost lineouts and an occasional lack of patience in attack proved pivotal in their defeat.
It would be understandable against a team as good as Emus to try to spoil the game and turn it into a grinding battle for territory, but McIntosh knows that won’t be enough to overthrow the champions.
“We won’t win if it is a grind, purely and simply,” he said.
“We need to take some risks and hope that the ball sticks. But we have to be smart about it, too.
“Last week we actually dominated territory for a lot of the game against Cowra, but we continually managed to give up that advantage, whether it was through a wayward lineout throw or a silly pass.
“We often took the easy option of just looking for a pass out the back when perhaps we could have taken another pick-and-drive to set ourselves up a little bit better. There were a lot of factors in it.
“Amidst the negatives, there were some good areas – we competed very well in the scrums again and won a few more tight-heads, which is something we’ve improved on each week.”
The CSU team will be boosted by the inclusion of powerful number eight Paul Lasalo after a couple of weeks on the sidelines.
He had been their standout player in the first two rounds before picking up an injury.
The resumption of the university session should also see the club’s depth improve after a few weeks of holidays.
Tomorrow’s match will kick off at 3.15pm at Endeavour Oval.
CSU: 1 Jack McKenna, 2 James Pizzie, 3 Michael Coates, 4 Angus Hombsch, 5 Charlie McIntosh, 6 Matt Nicholls, 7 Tom Greenaway, 8 Paul Lasalo, 9 Jack Rickard, 10 Jack Keppel, 11 Dom Huggett, 12 Tom Pegler, 13 Chad Ashton, 14 Lachlan Robinson, 15 Cam Backhouse.