It's not success that has come on the rugby field battling in the New Holland Cup, but helping a group of less fortunate children in Uganda at the Kafunjo Orphanage.

CSU has been working hard to raise funds for the orphanage and in doing so have won over a group of fans some 13,000 kilometres away.

Just as CSU coach Dave Conyers is driving his players to work together as a unit on the field, he's working to unite them for this important cause.

It's something that is very close to Conyers' heart.

"I was there in Uganda 10 years ago when I was at university in America on a study abroad mission, we were rounding up disabled kids off the street and trying to use sport as a remediation for them," he said.

"I just really like how genuine the people were and how safe a place it seemed as far as everybody keeping an eye out for each other. I always wanted to go back, then I met Sonia [Bostjancic] and found out she was tied up with this orphanage.

"I thought it won't hurt the rugby club to do a bit more community work. It teaches the boys about other cultures, so it's not a bad part of the learning for them either."

Through Bostjancic's contacts, Conyers got CSU involved in raising money for the Kafunjo orphanage.

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The coach has donated many personal items which have helped raise $2,500 already, and later in the year he will offer up a jumper for auction signed by all 37 members of the Australian squad which won the 1999 Rugby World Cup.

"It's one of my prized possessions, but I'm going to donate that to the cause," Conyers said.

Already the funds raised by CSU have made a positive impact.

"The orphanage has only been going for 10 years and they've just started to get a water infrastructure project going, they're pumping water out of the river and having their own storage tank," Conyers said.

"I get a phone call or a message every day showing what they're using the money for. We're paying teacher's wages and last week the kids were struggling to get fed properly, so some of the money went to feeding them.

"They've never played rugby any of those kids, I'm going to try to go over in December to try and get a program up. I'll get balls donated and jerseys donated."

This weekend when those involved in the Kafunjo Orphanage project contact Conyers, he hopes to tell them CSU have been successful in defeating Narromine.

Ever since CSU sprung a huge upset at Cale Oval to win the 2019 grand final there has been an intense rivalry between the two clubs.

"I don't think they've forgotten what we did to them in 2019 somehow. That's still a sore point with most of them I reckon," Conyers said.

"In the first round they got us right on full-time, 20-19. We scored four tries but we just couldn't kick a damn goal."

With flyhalf Ethan Cusick having suffered a season-ending broken arm in CSU's last outing, Lachlan Conyers will wear the number 10 jumper against the Gorillas.

Glenn Pollard will shift from the wing to fullback and Will Townsend will start on the edge.

"Young Will, he's still got a lot to learn, but he trains really hard, he's really keen and he's got a good attitude around the club. He deserves to play and he'll start on the wing," Conyers said.

Though he's been forced to make more back line changes - something which has been a regular theme over the seven rounds CSU has contested - Conyers is excited to see what his forwards can do against Narromine.

Two weeks ago when CSU last played, their scrum muscled up well against a Dubbo Rhinos outfit which had physically dominated in the season opener.

It gives Conyers hope CSU will be able to find its second win of the season and avenge its earlier loss to Narromine.

That one-point thriller Narromine won at University Oval currently stands as the Gorillas' only triumph in 2022.

"Now we've got Judah [Johnson] in the front row we can push [Lachie] Buckton back to the second row. We had Damien Grant come up last week and we had a really good training session with him," Conyers said.

"Our scrum has improved out of sight to where it was three or four weeks ago which is good because they've [Gorillas] talked one of their old boys, Charlie Tuck, he's an ex-Country tight-head prop, into coming back.

"This will probably be the first time this year I think we'll have 12 out of our best 15 starting again. We've had a fair bit of bad luck with injuries this year, so hopefully it's a turning point."

Conyers is no doubt not the only one hoping it's a turning point. CSU's new Ugandan fans will have their fingers crossed too.

Kick-off is at 3.15pm on Saturday.

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