ORANGE City stand-in skipper John Colgan, leading the side in the absence of injured number eight Tatafu Na’aniumotu, said if his troops are expecting an easy win over the Forbes Platypi this weekend, they’ve got another thing coming.
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Like the Lions, the Platypi remain undefeated through the opening four rounds of the Blowes Clothing Cup, although the latter side sits one spot higher on the table - in second - having played an extra game. Orange City had the bye last week.
“We have plenty of respect for Forbes,” Colgan said.
“Any team still unbeaten after four rounds is certainly something to be worried about. They’re coming second for a reason so we’re expecting our biggest game yet.”
Saturday’s fixture at Pride Park is one of the few match-ups so far in 2016 where the two combatants can be genuinely compared considering they’ve both trumped the exact same opponents so far, outside Forbes’ win over Mudgee.
Both sides have accounted for Parkes, CSU Bathurst and Dubbo Rhinos - in those games the Lions have piled on 145 points and only conceded 18, whereas Forbes have scored 90 and let in 29.
Those numbers alone lend themselves to a mouth-watering display of attacking rugby at Pride Park.
“It will be a good game I’d imagine, although we don’t know a whole lot about them,” Colgan said.
“We know they picked up a few guys from Parkes and we’ve heard they’re quite strong at the set-piece, that’ll be a big test for our forward pack.”
Those “guys from Parkes” include former NSW Country Cockatoo Mahe Fangupo, who has been in scintillating form so far in 2016, along with Nathan Langilangi, Masi Seru, Tohi Nusipepa and Hal Honemau.
Colgan said his side would not give them too much thought, preferring to concentrate on picking up where they left off prior to the bye.
“We’ve lost a bit of momentum with that break, so we’re going to need our chemistry to pick back up to where it was beforehand,” Colgan said.
“We’re looking forward to testing ourselves at the set-piece and putting on a show for our supporters before our toga party at Waratahs on Saturday night - we’d love to see all the supporters and people around the club up there for that after the games.”
The Lions and Platypi meet from 3.15pm. The Lions are expected to finalise their side on Friday night.