RUGBY UNION
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AN early morning, a two-and-a-half hour trip and the prospect of facing one of the Blowes Clothing Cup’s most electrifying backlines with bus legs - yep, Orange City’s road trip to The Burrow tomorrow is set to be the Lions’ toughest litmus test yet.
The Wombats have turned Jubilee Oval into a fortress in 2015, in fact, they’re undefeated in six starts at their home ground and Orange City co-captain Josh Maley isn’t under any illusions as to just how hard tomorrow’s clash will be.
Making Orange City’s task even tougher, the table-topping Lions face the fourth-placed Wombats without star inside centre Mesui Lemoto.
“Sui broke his thumb last weekend, he had surgery on Sunday and should miss a good four to six weeks, which hurts,” Maley said.
“Especially with Mudgee being undefeated at home and sitting in the lower half of the top five, they’ve got plenty of motivation to get over the top of us, but we’ve got motivation too.
“We like it at the top, and Orange Emus are hot on our tails. They’re hitting their straps so we need to as well. This is a pretty important week for us.
“When we played Mudgee at home we got a win, but it was a bit of a get out of jail type win with a penalty close to full-time. We know how much tougher it will be in Mudgee.”
VIDEO: Michelle Cook and Matt Findlay preview Saturday's Blowes Clothing Cup games:
Considering the Lions and Wombats have, arguably, the two best backlines in the competition Maley said the game is likely to be decided by which set of backs gets more space.
In a mouth-watering match-up, the likes of Orange City five-eighth Cameron Cole, centre Jake Davis and fullback Joe Lasagavibau will do battle with Mudgee’s guns in former National Rugby Championship centre Rota Setu, and sizzling winger Daniel Niumata.
“Both sides have great backs, and they’re forward pack is quite strong. In reality, I think whichever forward pack wins the battle there will have a big impact,” Maley said.
“That will give the backs room to move, and hopefully from there us forwards can just watch really.”
Sam Dwyer comes into the centres for Lemoto, with Davis remaining in his customary No.13 role.
The game kicks off at 3.15pm, at Jubilee Oval.
ORANGE CITY: 1 Darcy Garlick, 2 Chris Senior, 3 Logan Brockmann, 4 Scott Smith, 5 Chris Barrett, 6 Josh Maley, 7 Duncan Young, 8 Tatafu Na’aniumotu, 9 Tom Nell, 10 Cameron Cole, 11 Tom Fisher, 12 Sam Dwyer, 13 Jake Davis, 14 Sam Coote, 15 Joe Lasagavibau.