RUGBY UNION
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PLAYING the Condobolin Rams in Condobolin.
It doesn’t get much tougher than that for the Molong Magpies, particularly when tomorrow’s GrainCorp Cup Southern division clash is also set to decide which of the two teams finishes third.
But with the his side scoring three wins on the bounce leading into tomorrow’s clash, and starting to gain some much-needed consistency and continuity, Molong second rower Tom Evans said he is confident of escaping the competition’s toughest road trip - not unlike the Blowes Clothing Cup’s trip to Narromine to play the Gorillas in their prime - with points.
“We’re starting to play some really good football. With a lot of injuries it’s been tough and we also lost a lot of blokes from last year’s premiership side, and replacing them with duds like myself hasn’t helped,” Evans, in his first season with Molong since junior rugby, chuckled.
“It’s a long haul out there and they’ll be ready to play, especially considering I think it’s their old boy’s day, too.
“There’s plenty up for grabs, so we’ll be ready as well.”
Evans looks set to produce a herculean effort to even take the field tomorrow, after suffering a nasty elbow injury last week.
The 27-year-old highlighted his side’s work at the ruck tomorrow as crucial, and said the Magpies need to be technically good to get over the top of the Rams’ massive pack.
“The key on the weekend will be being strong at the breakdown,” he explained.
“We really need to blow their forwards out early and own the ruck to set a platform for the backs to their job. Gaining that early momentum is key.
“We’ve been guilty of late of only playing 50 or 60 minutes of good rugby.
“It’s been taking us too long to get going after halftime and we’ve let teams back into the contest.
“None more so then when we played Condobolin last time, at Molong, when we led 21-7 and got chased down. So that’s a real focus for us.”
Evans hadn’t scored a try prior to last weekend - which had become a running joke with the Magpies players - but finally crossed in the side’s 48-5 win over CSU Orange, and said if he has his way he’ll get plenty more five-pointers by season’s end.
“I’ll be hanging out on the wing as much as I can, to try and grab the glory and back a hat-trick,” he chuckled.