THE Villages United side have pushed their way into a nearly impregnable top-five position with four rounds of the New Era Cup remaining, having secured their fifth straight win on the weekend against Kandos.
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Little more than a month ago, Villages were battling to stay in touch with the finals-bound top half of the ladder but began to find some form with wins against strugglers Lithgow Giants and Orange Barbarians.
They followed those with two more successes against fellow finals aspirants CSU Blue and CSU Yellow, and it culminated in an almost flawless performance against Kandos on Saturday in Rockley.
After a scratchy start, they piled on 10 tries including a hat-trick to Jace Hood as well as doubles to Kris Kennedy and Chris Ashcroft to win 52-0.
It moved them into third, and realistically just one or two wins in their final four matches will probably keep them in the top three and guarantee them a double chance in the finals.
“The first half was a bit sloppy in some parts, probably the first 20 minutes or so when we were dropping a fair bit of ball,” co-coach Kennedy said.
“We started to pick things up a bit before half-time and then in the second half we played virtually without making any mistakes or giving away penalties, it was a good performance.”
Kennedy acknowledged that their football started to take a turn for the better with their 30-16 round 12 win over CSU Yellow, and having since beaten the Mungoes Blue team and flogged Kandos, who were fifth, they have begun to aim higher.
“The CSU teams are always tough and we have good battles with their forwards. I think in those games they might have been a little short on players so our fitness started to get the better of them in the end,” he said.
“They [Yellow] actually beat Wallerawang on the weekend and they’re a very good side themselves, so that win was a vital one for us and showed what we were capable of.
“Now we are taking on Blackheath this weekend and that is going to be a major test. They’re on top of the ladder and have only dropped one game all season against Waller- awang, so if we can get close to them it will be a big effort.
“I think maybe one more win will be enough to get us into third but we want to be winning as many games as we can.”
