Panthers captain Brent Seager will start in the front row while St Pat’s prop Luke Newsome and team-mate Benjamin John (hooker) will both start from the bench.

It has been a quick rise for Newsome, who is in Australia for a year having come across from England last October.

The Leeds native has been a huge hit with the Saints in his brief tenure in blue and white and with barely any football under his belt, impressed selectors enough to earn his start for Group 10 earlier this month.

He was part of a dominant forward pack alongside Seager in the clash against Group 11 and now finds himself at the pointy end of country rugby league in NSW.

Not bad for someone who is playing a new position in a new club in a new country.

“It is a totally different style of play over here, but I’m loving it,” he said.

“Back home I played in the second row and generally that is more of a ball-playing position, there is a bit of ball running as well, but it is a lot different to what a second rower would do here.

“I’ve enjoyed all of my football here so far, I couldn’t have asked for a better club to come to. It has been great.”

There were some minor concerns for Newsome’s availability for the game after he picked up a knee injury in the Saints’ win over Cowra last Sunday week.

He was given the week off by coach Kurt Hancock, forcing him to miss the game against Mudgee. His absence was sorely missed in a physical clash against an enormous Dragons’ pack.

But its size isn’t a patch on the Rams’ forwards.

One of the Mudgee players who made life difficult for St Pat’s was their captain-coach Jack Afamasaga, who played at prop for the Dragons.

Tomorrow he will be shuffled back to lock, such is the power of their forwards.

The modest Newsome admits he was a bit shocked to be elevated to such company so early in his Group 10 career.

“I was fairly surprised to get in there, but I’ll take it as a compliment,” he said.

“The trial was very fast-paced, the contact was harder. It was certainly up a level from the club stuff. 

“I know absolutely nothing about the team we’re playing against, but for me coming from overseas, that’s pretty much the same as every week anyway, so I don’t expect it to be a factor.

“We do have a very big pack and it will be tight to actually get on the field but I’ll try and make the most of any chance I get and just enjoy it.”

The Rams meet the Greater Northern Tigers from 12.45pm tomorrow.

WESTERN RAMS: 1 Tim Bassmann (Orange CYMS), 2 Alofi Mataele (Orange Hawks) 3 Tom Lewsley (Mudgee Dragons) 4 Ben McAlpine (Orange CYMS) 5 Chris Daley (Dubbo Macquarie) 6 Jacob Neill (Nyngan Tigers) 7 Dennis Moran (Parkes Spacemen), 8 Ronald Lawrence (Cowra Magpies), 9 Jeremy Smith (Dubbo Macquarie), 10 Brent Seager (Bathurst Panthers), 11 Justin Toomey-White (Wellington Cowboys) 12 Troy Hayman (Cobar Roosters), 13 Jack Afamasaga (Mudgee Dragons), 14. Benjamin John (St Pat’s), 15 Wade Judd (Oberon Tigers), 16 Luke Newsome (St Pat’s), 17 Josh Rainbow (Blayney Bears), 18 Jyie Chapman (Dubbo CYMS).