AFTER the Tumut Bulls came away with the spoils last weekend, the Phantoms are itching to take them down a peg when they face off in Saturday’s qualifying final.
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Finals will officially get underway for the Southern Inland Rugby Union competition in Griffith on Saturday, with first grade Leeton’s sole male side to come this far.
Last weekend the Phantoms went down 23-17 to the Bulls at No. 1 Oval.
Coach Seru Rogo said that loss was now behind them.
“We’re focused on the finals now,” Rogo said.
“I think it was good to play them last weekend.
“We know what they are capable of and I know we will improve from last week.
“This weekend we’ve got more players back, so I think we will have a completely different side.
“Tumut won’t have changed their team much … they won’t have much different to last week.
“I think they were beatable last weekend, we just didn’t play our best game.”
With the Bulls having to travel quite a distance to Griffith on Saturday, Rogo was hopeful that would impact their game.
“I hope it might, but I don’t think so,” he said.
“They are used to travelling, so it will be up to us to get out their and win.
“We just need to worry about ourselves and how we play.”
In the lead up to Saturday’s clash, the Phantoms endured a gruelling fitness session on Tuesday before heading to the gym with Sean Browning on Wednesday.
The team trained again on Thursday night.
With third and second grade not playing in this year’s finals series, Rogo had a special request for the reserves team.
“After they lost on Saturday I asked them to still come to training this week,” he said.
“They are still part of our first grade team and there are players in there that we will need to call on.
“We’ve trained as one all season, so it doesn’t need to change now.
“I said at the start of the year that they are all first grade players, so it was good to see them all come down and train with us.”
Should the Phantoms suffer a loss on Saturday they will have a double chance.
However, that possibility wasn’t on Rogo’s mind.
“We’re not thinking that way,” he said.
“We want to beat Tumut and go from there.
“I’m very confident in our team and their abilities.
“At the end of the day we can only tell them so much.
“It’s up to them now to make it count.”
Tumut won’t have changed their team much … they won’t have much different to last week. I think they were beatable last weekend, we just didn’t play our best game.
- Phantoms coach Seru Rogo