They have been the best two teams in the Central West Rugby Union all season and last time Bathurst Bulldogs and Narromine Gorillas went head-to-head, Bulldogs coach Murray Hooper said it was one of the best games of rugby he had seen in the last two years.
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Now there is extra motivation for both teams with the incentive of a home ground grand final on the line when they meet in the qualifying semi-final at Cale Oval in Narromine tomorrow.
Both teams have a win beside their name with Bulldogs proving to be comfortable 36-24 winners at Ashwood Park early in the season but the Gorillas were able to sneak in 22-15 in a nail-biter on their home soil.
Hooper is expecting that tomorrow’s game will be a similar affair.
“It’s always a tough game in Narromine and they will have good crowd support. There is plenty to play for and both teams will will be up for the match,” he said. “[Last time we played in Narromine] it was a tight one. It was the best game I’ve seen in a couple of years and I expect that this one will be similar. With six minutes to go the game was in the balance.”
Last week the entire Bulldogs team gelled to produce an impressive 39-21 victory against Orange City with Hayden Tidswell finishing with four tries next to his name. It is the second time this season he achieved the feat against the Lions and Hooper wouldn’t mind at all if he did it a third time against Narromine.
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“Hopefully everyone will have a big game but it would be good if Hayden Tidswell could go back-to-back with his performances and score another four tries. That would be very handy for us,” he said.
The coach has named the same team for the Gorillas clash and has elected to leave regular first graders Scott Johnston and Tim Kaufusi in second grade.
“We’ve stayed with the same starting side and rewarded the guys who are doing well. They have been getting results and deserve their place in the team,” Hooper said.
Hooper said there were still a few areas that he would bee looking for his team to improve.
“We need our line-out to step up. Everything else has been solid, our scrums have been good, our defence has been solid and we have been able to score points,” he said.
“To beat Narromine you have to stop them scoring points by shutting down their attacking weapons. You need to find a way to score points yourself while not letting them do the same and that’s what we have been working on.”
Hooper said he wasn’t convinced that the week was a good thing for Narromine even if they win this week but he wouldn’t mind his own team earning a direct passage to the grand final.
“It’s a tough call because if they win this week then they have only played two games in a month of finals and they are coming up against teams that have been playing week in week out,” he said.
“At this time of the year for us, we have had a few tough games, we have a few niggling injuries and it would be good to be able to give the players a rest before the grand final.”
Bathurst Bulldogs take on Narromine Gorillas in the qualifying final at Cale Oval tomorrow afternoon from 3.15pm.
BATHURST BULLDOGS: 1 Chris Plunkett, 2 Alex Weal, 3 Andrew Warren, 4 Lachlan Bull, 5 Izaak Breen, 6 Jono Cody, 7 Adam Dywer, 8 Hayden Tidswell, 9 Phil Tonkin, 10 Mitch Lavelle, 11 Alex Grant, 12 Paul Miller, 13 Ray Lange, 14 Chris Porter, 15 Luke James.
