RUGBY captain Mitch Bower may not be playing on Saturday but he still feels his side has what it takes to chase down Newtown's first innings total.
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Bower is away from Dubbo and unavailable for Saturday's play with his side starting their innings this afternoon at No. 1 after Newtown posted 7-231 last week.
With Newtown currently second and Rugby third the match is an important one and Bower knows if his side do get the win it will stand them in good stead on the eve of the finals.
"If we do get a win we can really stamp our spot and it will show that we can beat Newtown," he said.
"We might meet in the finals so it would be good to have a win and take some confidence from it."
Jordan Moran is shaping as a key figure in the match with the left-hander retuning to the side after his match-winning century for Western in last weekend's Country Championship final against Newcastle.
Moran made a brilliant 103 not out in the match and Bower is hopeful last season's Whitney Cup-winning captain can guide his side to victory on Saturday.
"We know we can win, we've just got to go out and do it," he said.
"Jordan is in good form and got the ton last week against Newcastle and he was really hitting the ball clean so hopefully he can take that form into this match.
"Nath (Munro) is in good form too so we need some of those senior guys to stand up and show some of the younger guys how it's done."
Moran, Munro and Ben Taylor were the three experienced players Bower called on to lead the way on Saturday.
Aidan Bennewith has also made a number of handy contributions this season and will be another the Tigers have to be wary of.
Newtown were in real trouble last week at 5-98 but a 113-run partnership from Jarrod Toole (72) and Marty Jeffrey (58 not out) helped the Tigers post a competitive total.
Bower said he was still happy his side restricted their opponents to below 250 on what he described as a good batting deck.
The captain also expects his side to face plenty of deliveries from Skinner brothers Mat and Steve with the Whitney Cup's two leading wicket-takers both key figures for Newtown.
"They bowl plenty of good areas and they really rely on those two to tie batsmen down and go for no runs," Bower said.
"They play a simple game plan but we do as well so you've just got to work the ball around, turn the strike over and try and take three or four off an over."
Play resumes on Saturday at 1pm.