HAVING spent the last six weeks playing the top-five teams on the Central West Rugby Union first grade ladder as well as another side who may well end up there, CSU might finally get some relief tomorrow when they face Narromine.

The students currently sit third from last in the 11-team competition, above the winless Dubbo Rhinos and Narromine.

The Gorillas’ victory over Cowra in round one remains their only success in 2016.

In their season opener CSU defeated Rhinos meaning that in a combined 11 matches since, neither has enjoyed a win.

On CSU’s recent form it is hard to argue against installing the students as favourites, given that they have played Orange Emus, Dubbo ’Roos, Forbes, Orange City and Cowra – the current top five – and tested them all for at least 40 minutes.

Last Saturday CSU found a way to lose against seventh-placed Bathurst Bulldogs after leading almost the entire game.

All that aside, CSU coach Pip McIntosh says he is more than a bit nervous about tomorrow’s encounter at Cale Oval.

“Narromine might only have one win but they have been improving every week. They’ve gone close to Parkes and Mudgee in their last two games and to be honest, I’ve got more than a few worries about this game,” McIntosh said.

“Physically I don’t doubt that we are more than good enough to get the better of them, but mentally there is a big danger after going through a tough part of the draw that we won’t have the right attitude.

“If we go out there too relaxed, we’ll get our arses kicked. Narromine are a typical big, tough, country side and sadly like a lot of other teams, the knowledge that they have a size advantage over us seems to make them lift even more.

“We are going into a period of the draw where we play all the teams around us on the ladder and we could quite easily come out of it with three or four wins. We could just as easily come out of it with none.”

In the immediate aftermath of their loss to Bulldogs, there was plenty of head-shaking and disappointment. But there was also a slight atmosphere of satisfaction that they had competed for so long against their local rivals.

That notion dissipated quickly according to the coach.

“They were gutted for a while after full-time, to let that win go and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory was pretty devastating for them and for me,” he said.

“I think in both the Forbes and Cowra games we probably competed for a similar amount of time, they’ve been the three closest efforts to going for the full 80 minutes.

“Again it is just a matter of them continuing to work towards that full game performance.”

McIntosh has some juggling to do this week with both centres in Chad Ashton and Tom Pegler out of action for tomorrow’s match.

That will mean fullback Cam Backhouse moves to outside centre, Dom Huggett will come into inside centre from second grade, with Lachie Robinson moving to fullback and Tom Westcott taking his place on the wing. 

CSU: 1 Charlie McIntosh, 2 James Pizzie, 3 Michael Coates, 4 Dave Le Breton, 5 Angus Hombsch, 6 Tom Greenaway, 7 Josh Arrow, 8 Paul Lasalo, 9 Ben Reading-Thompson, 10 Jack Keppel, 11 Tom Westcott, 12 Dom Huggett, 13 Cam Backhouse, 14 Will Sears, 15 Lachie Robinson.