IN TERMS of competition points and standings Saturday’s Blowes Clothing Cup final round local derby against Orange City means nothing for Orange Emus, the greens have already guaranteed themselves the minor premiership and a week off at the start of the finals.
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Just don’t tell that to Emus assistant coach Andrew Logan.
For him there’s still plenty on the line, especially considering Emus are coming off a 25-12 loss to the second-placed Forbes Platypi.
“There’s plenty for us to play for, particularly considering we lost to one of the top teams last weekend and Orange City is coming off a win over one of those top sides in Dubbo Kangaroos,” Logan said.
“I’m a firm believer that a side can never have enough tough, hard rugby (in the lead up to semi-finals) and that loss to Forbes was a big wake-up call for us. It reminded us just turning up in this competition isn’t good enough.
“It’ll be interesting because Orange City can still finish in the top three and can also drop down to fifth as well.”
For the former of those situations to happen Orange City would need to beat Emus and hope Dubbo ‘Roos lose to cross-city rivals Dubbo Rhinos, unlikely considering their campaigns so far but nonetheless possible.
“I’ve said plenty of times before, strange things can happen in rugby,” Logan said.
“While it’s probably not very likely, we know for a fact Rhinos base themselves around defending hard and carrying hard too. They’re at home, so you never know, if they have a good day and ‘Roos have a bad one it could happen.”
Forget the fact Orange City sits fourth too, in Logan’s mind that and the Lions’ results are irrelevant now.
That loss to Forbes was a big wake-up call for us. It reminded us just turning up in this competition isn’t good enough.
- Emus assistant coach Andrew Logan
“We know Orange City’s a finals team, they play their best rugby at this time of year,” Logan said.
“They’ve built themselves around their defensive line and that’s our challenge, to bend and break that defensive line.
“Last week we got found out at the breakdown and out-enthused, we know Orange City will be looking to do the same.”
Kick-off is at 3.15pm at Pride Park.
ORANGE EMUS: 1 Steve Fergus, 2 Tom Goolagong, 3 Nas Havealeta, 4 Sam McLean, 5 Nick Hughes-Clapp, 6 Andrew Cosgrove, 7 Andrew Selwood, 8 Mitch Lockley, 9 Sam Green, 10 Todd Freedman, 11 Tom Green, 12 Zac White, 13 Nigel Staniforth, 14 Lachie Harris, 15 AJ Sykes; Interchange: 16 Rob Thorburn, 17 Carter Hirini