Moran made 111 as his side batted through the day to finish 9/332 against CYMS at No.1 Oval, leaving the Cougars with the task of batting out 75 overs this coming Saturday if they want to win.

Moran's innings was littered with fours and sixes, and he was brutal against any loose bowling provided by CYMS.

He received terrific support from Nathan Munro (48) and James O'Brien (24) but a middle-order collapse threatened to ruin the good work they had done.

It took an 86-run stand from Zac Murphy (52) and Jacob Bruce (43) to turn what could have been a total of around 250 into one over 300.

Ben Strachan was the pick of the CYMS bowlers, taking 4-71 off 22 overs on what was a long day for the men in green

"It was great to see those other guys step up, because we're going through a big rebuild at the club and the senior players need to lead the way," Moran said.

"Personally it's always good to spend time in the middle and score runs but for the other guys to make some runs and help us bat out the day, that was big.

"History says that if you bat out the first day you make a total good enough to win. I think the last 10 or 11 times we've done that we've won and the other teams would be the same so it's a big advantage for us."

Rugby were the only winless team heading into the fourth round of this season' with two wins and a washout from their three contests.

A loss to CYMS will almost rule them out of finals contention but a win has them right back in the finals race.

"Because it's a short season with the amount of games we play it means so much rides on every match," Moran said.

"Before the season started I said Souths would be one of the teams to play finals, and even though they look like losing to Newtown this round I'd stick by that.

"Outside of that though, it's pretty even. Everyone is capable of beating everyone else and it means that every week there's three massive games with a bearing on how the finals will shape up, even though it's November."