RUGBY LEAGUE
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They may have notched their breakthrough first win last week but Collegians back-rower Andrew Chard says his side needs to address a trend of lapses after half-time in order to continue it's momentum this week.
The Dogs were impressive in notching 42 points against Dapto last Friday but only after the Canaries put a big dent in their 20-0 lead to get within two (20-18) with 25 minutes to play.
It followed a similar lapse after the break in their round two clash with Helensburgh in which they led 6-0 at the break only to be overrun 20-12 on the back of two tries in the opening 10 minutes of the second half.
Chard said it was an issue that coach Reece Simmonds has addressed this week ahead of their Friday night clash with Corrimal at Ziems Park.
"It was a good showing from us against Helensburgh, we really turned it around from our first round loss to Wests," Chard said.
"We probably should have come away with a win there but the second half really let us down there.
"We've been improving, but we've still got to work on our start to the second half," he said.
"We've been a bit slow there and we really let Dapto back into the game last week.
"It's something we've spoken about and something we're really trying to work on," he said.
The win over Dapto was a welcome relief after the Dogs had two weeks to stew on their 0-2 start due to the wet weather that hammered the Illawarra and played havoc with the Coal League schedule.
"We definitely needed the two points," Chard said.
"We couldn't afford to give teams like Dapto a six-point start over the year, so we really needed that win and I thought we won pretty well in the end."
Collies will face a winless Cougars outfit on Friday but at 1-2 for the year Chard said his side won't be taking them lightly.
"It's always tough to go out to Corrimal on a Friday night," he said.