ST Pat’s junior Luke Bain and his Western Rams under 16s team-mates are one win away from Country Championships glory as only the Greater Northern Tigers stand in the way of that dream after a thus far impressive campaign.

The Rams have won four straight matches over the past month and should they take that tally to five with success in tomorrow’s City-Country curtain raiser at Tamworth, it would cap off a memorable run.

It would give them the prestige of being the best under 16s country rugby league representative outfit in the state.

Bain has been a starting front rower for the Rams and coach Jamie Szcerbanik is enjoying his work ethic.

“We use him as a bit of an enforcer. He’s a tough kid who loves his football and never takes a backward step. Him and Matt Nicholson from Red Bend in the front row have done a great job,” Szcerbanik said.

“He knows his job. He rips into the other team early, comes off for a bit, then goes back on in the second half and does the same thing.

“He was a little unsure of himself at the start and where he wanted to play. He had a bit of a run at second row, but we really wanted him in that front row because it suited our game plan. He’s really made the position his own.”

Changes in team culture and a solid representative pre-season have worked wonders for the Rams, according to their coach.

“I’m over the moon for the guys and I’m proud of the way that they’ve put it all together,” Szcerbanik said.

“The way we ran the program this year was very different, where we used the Rams academy as our unofficial pre-season. We’ve been together since November and all the guys really had to dig deep to make that final 18.

“We’ve broken down the barrier of Group 10 and 11 and even the barrier between their own clubs. They’re all playing for the Rams and not their individual clubs. We’ve brought in that mentality from the start and to the boys’ credit, they’ve really bought into that.”

Szcerbanik believes a performance similar to the 28-8 semi-final win last Saturday over the East Coast Dolphins can get his team over the line in tomorrow’s decider against the Tigers.

“That [semi-final] was our best performance of the competition so far. We had started slow in round one against the Bidgee Bulls, but finished strongly,” he said.

“We didn’t play to our game plan against a weaker side the next game and then in the third match we had a massive lead at half-time, but last week was the best football we’ve produced.

“I think it’s great as well that after the game I’ve got 16-year-olds coming up to me and asking where they can improve and I think that’s a real sign of maturity.”

The Rams earned their path to the decider on the back of wins over the Bulls (22-18), Southern Redbacks (30-0), Greater Southern Stingrays (34-10) and the Dolphins.

Tomorrow’s match will kick off at 12.15pm.