Central West Colts coach Dean Matthews believes his side took a lot out of a trial against a combined Dubbo Roos squad, as it intensifies preparations for next month’s Country Championships.
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The under-19s squad, made up of players from all across the region, pushed the Roos side which consisted of some Colts and second grade players before eventually falling by a try.
That match was the perfect warm-up for a more structured hitout against Central North in Tamworth this weekend.
“We’re looking to gradually build. Last weekend was more about giving the boys a chance to gel rather than the result, and I think they went well,” Matthews said.
“It’s hard for us to get together and train, simply due to the distance our region covers, so we’re using game situations to try and get the squad prepared.
“As an example, we actually played Billy Carbery at five-eighth instead of fullback and he killed it, so we have added to the depth of our squad by finding that out in an unofficial sort of trial rather than having to test it in a match.
“We’re playing Central North in Tamworth this weekend, we have another trial at Mudgee the weekend after that, and then the Country Championships are two weeks after that.
“We’ll be going to Tamworth with pretty much our full squad bar Strath Munro, who will be playing in the Dubbo cricket grand finals, so we will learn a lot more from this week.”
First up in the Country Championships will be a clash with Central Coast, with the winner progressing to the business end of the competition on day two of the competition.
Matthews believes having a few trials in quick succession prior to the competition will be advantageous for his team.
“We don’t know much about Central Coast but from all reports they have a few representative league players in their side, so they won’t be easybeats,” he said.
“I imagine because of that, and because they are probably training a couple of times a week, they will play a very structured style of rugby.
“Out in the Country we tend to play more of a bash and barge style, and that will probably be how we go because we won’t have had to same opportunity to develop that same level of structure.
“We’ve got a couple more chances to work on that style of rugby that we want to play, and if we can get that sorted then we will give ourselves the best chance of beating Central Coast in that first game of the Championships.
