Saturday's match will go a long way to proving if the Mungoes - who finished the regular season in third - have what it takes to defend their title.

They've had such a long break between games - come Saturday it'll be three weeks since their 26-8 loss to Oberon - so one might think that CSU might be a bit rusty for such an important game away to a third-finishing Cargo outfit.

But according to coach Rhys Power, his side are "keen as mustard" to return to action and claim a victory against the former Woodbridge Cup side.

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"All the boys are really pumped," he said.

"We've had three weeks off now, so we haven't played since we got done by Oberon.

"All the boys are chomping at the bit to get back to it."

CSU and Cargo have played once this season, at Cargo Oval on August 9, with the hosts scoring a late try to snatch a 26-24 win.

Following that loss last month, Power admitted that it was "one of the worst games" he'd seen the Mungoes play in the last decade.

But his side has been working hard in the past three weeks to help counter where it all went wrong against the Blue Heelers.

"Cargo came out and shocked us a little bit in that match," he said.

"They shifted the ball really well early in the game and it sort of took away our line speed, which is our biggest defensive skill. Because of the smaller size of all our guys, we've got to do something to match it with these big, tough country footy teams.

"Cargo shifted the ball really well against us, so I'm expecting them to do a bit the same this weekend. But we've been working on that the past few weeks.

"I think it'll be a really good game. I'm pretty excited for it."

CSU will welcome back Lachie Wilson this Saturday, a player Power described as a "calming head" on the field.

"Lachie Wilson is back from injury, which is awesome," he said.

"He's our calming head on the field, especially when you've got Joe Cody there running a muck, doing what he does, being really weird, screaming and carrying on.

"He needs that calming influence, so having Lachie Wilson back is going to be huge.

"Our captain Cal Flanagan has finished his prac for the year, so he's been at training for the past two weeks and I think it's the first time he's been a bit stress free, sort of ready to go out and enjoy himself.

"So I think he's going to go out and have a bumper game too."

The winner of the CSU versus Cargo match on Saturday will play minor premiers Oberon in the major semi-final next weekend, with the winner of the match going straight through to the grand final.

The loser will play the winner of the Orange Barbarians versus Orange United Warriors game, with the loser of the match to be eliminated from the finals.

Kick-off between the CSU Mungoes and the Cargo Blue Heelers is at 2.30pm from Cargo Oval.