That day you won’t want to be anywhere else in the world other than Anne Ashwood Park, where all eyes will be on the Orange City Lions as they look to redeem themselves after last year’s embarrassing Blowes Clothing Cup elimination semi-final loss to Bathurst Bulldogs.

Leading 27-0 at half-time and then 34-12 with 30 minutes remaining, Orange City blew it in that game and the Lions’ season came to a close as a result of Bulldogs’ extra-time win.

The two sides had a long rivalry anyway, there’s no love lost, so the only way the round three match-up could be juicier is if it was the season-opener.

“We have a long history with Bulldogs anyway and the last time they beat us, before last year, at Ashwood Park was in the preliminary final in 2010 so there’s definitely more motivation for us in [round three] now,” Lions mentor Steve Hamson said.

“When we had the acid put on us we just, sort of, went to water a bit in that game. That was a bit of a reflection of our whole season last year as well though.

“Bulldogs aren’t a flashy side for me, they’re just hard footballers who’ll bash you from minute one to minute 80, they get in the grind and you have to show plenty of fight to get over them, which we didn’t really do in that final.”

The elimination semi-final rematch comes after the Lions host the Cowra Eagles in round one and then head to Dubbo to take on Kangaroos in round two.

Orange City hosts Dubbo Rhinos in the fourth game of 2017 and then Orange Emus in a blockbuster, round five local derby.

While he acknowledged it’s a tough run for his side to open the season with, Hamson said he’d prefer that to the easy, albeit disjointed start the Lions had in 2016.

The Lions had four byes in total last year, with Narromine’s relegation to the GrainCorp Cup the draw has evened out again.

“Thank Christ,” Hamson laughed.

“Last year’s draw was a debacle, there was just no chance to build momentum at all and we really saw the impact of that.

“We had a bit of an easy start to the year too, so it’ll be good to get some tough games under our belt and really try to bring back that tough, defensive-minded culture we had in previous years.

“Those first five or six rounds will be a good yardstick for us this season.”

Hamson said the Lions will move away from the plan they used in 2016, which involved constantly changing line ups in a bid to increase players’ adaptability across mutliple positions.

Hamson will rejoin the Lions’ pre-season campaign after finishing his role as Canada’s manager at this weekend’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series leg in Sydney.

“I’ve done this sort of thing for the last few years with a few different teams, it’s a great opportunity learn from some very good coaches,” he said.

“It’s tough at times to compare what these players, professional, full-time players do compared to us in Orange, we’re very part-time, but hopefully I can bring a bit back to the Lions.”

The Blowes Clothing Cup season kicks off on Saturday, April 1.