STRIKE WEAPON: Sione ‘bonus point’ Lafau’ou. Photo: NICK MCGRATH
MEET Sione ‘bonus point’ Lafau’ou.
The electrifying winger has been unstoppable over the opening four rounds of the Blowes Clothing Cup competition, with his four-try effort against the Cowra Eagles last weekend’s 45-12 romp effectively earning Orange City a bonus-point win.
Lafau’ou has scored eight tries - including seven in his last two starts - in the opening four rounds of the competition.
Alone, the flying Tongan has scored more points than the entire Forbes team.
Known as ‘Junior’, Lafau’ou is fast, strong, boasts sparkling footwork and as Lions coach Steve Hamson said after his flying winger’s three-try effort against the Platipy in round three, “if he can square you up, he’ll beat you. He has no right to score some of the tries he does.”
“We’ve started calling him bonus point - he got it on his own last weekend,” Hamson laughed.
“He is pretty flashy on the field but he is a hard trainer too. He trains as hard as anyone at the club and he is very coachable. Obviously, he comes with a hell of a lot of talent.
“He has been a tremendous addition to the club.”
Hamson is hoping Lafau’ou is at his best when the Lions host this season’s surprise packet Dubbo Rhinos at Pride Park tomorrow.
The Rhinos are fifth on the competition ladder after four rounds.
The Dubbo outfit got off to a flyer with two wins from their first two matches but have since dropped their last two games, but were far from disgraced in tight losses against the undefeated CSU Bathurst and perennial powerhouse Narromine.
They meet another in-form side in the Lions tomorrow.
Hamson said the match-up at Pride Park has the potential to be one of the toughest for Orange City this season.
“We won’t know that until after Saturday,” he said.
“I guess going on past results it could be. I’m loathe to say anything much about any side until after the first round.
“(Dubbo) seem to build around their centres and they’ve got a number eight who likes to pick the ball up and run.”
Having said that, Hamson was reluctant to worry too much about the Rhinos.
“We did (worried about the opposition) once or twice last season and our own game fell away each time,” he said.
“We’ll be worrying about our own backyard.”
Fullback Anthony Salmon (face, indefinite) is out this week causing a reshuffle in the Lions’ backline.
Ben Mills returns to outside centre with Taylor Smith shifting to wing and Sam Powell now filling the custodians role.
Kick-off is at 3.15pm.
ORANGE CITY: 1 Nathan Short, 2 Josh Tremain, 3 John Colgan, 4 Mitch Pearce, 5 Chris Barrett, 6 Angus Brotherton, 7 Duncan Young, 8 Dan Johnson, 9 Nick Quinn, 10 Michael Sparks, 11 Sione Lafau’ou, 12 Maesui Lomoto, 13 Ben Mills, 14 Taylor Smith, 15 Sam Powell.