Uni prepared for explosive Bowral in Illawarra Rugby Union showdown

That one is a team they’ve been preparing for for a number of weeks. A similarly high-flying team sitting near the top of the competition ladder. A team with the ability to score from anywhere on the field and blow a game wide open in a matter of minutes.

The team is Bowral and Uni coach Dion Miller knows he must have his side switched on from the opening whistle if they are to come away with the points on Saturday.

While last week’s clash against Avondale was always set to be a hotly-contested match, Uni were missing five of their best players to NSW Country duties and Miller recognised his side was facing an uphill battle.

But this weekend, with the team at full-strength, this is the game Miller is desperate to win.

“They’re a team we’ve been worrying about for a little while now,” Miller said. “We haven’t played them yet, but we know they’re quite fit and aggressive at the breakdown and they’ve got the smarts to use the ball in attack. We have to be a little bit tighter and keep our eyes open in defence.

“After last week’s loss, this match is very important, we need to stay right at the top of the table, we can’t afford to drop down.

“I believe most of the teams in the competition in the second round are going to be hard to beat, so it’s important to be as far up the top as you can in case you have a setback.”

The Blacks leapfrogged Uni into second on the ladder after their 41-15 victory over Tech last weekend and Miller said his team must win the contest at the breakdown if they are to nullify Bowral’s attacking threats. 

“We’ve been working on attacking and protecting the breakdown for a few weeks with this game in mind. They’ve got an all-round pack of forwards and sharp backs, any turnover ball, they use quite well. We need to hang onto the ball and protect it at the same time when taking it into contact.”

Last week’s matches marked the halfway point of the competition, with Avondale sitting four points clear of Bowral at the top of the ladder. Uni sit in third, just one point back. Miller is pleased with where the team sits, but is looking to his side to keep building through the second half of the season.

“We have had a couple of bad games, one in particular against Camden, but I’m very happy with where we’re sitting at the moment. We’re still working on a few things and we need to tidy a few areas up, because everybody’s catching up to everybody.

“The biggest area is our defence, we’ve let in almost as many tries as we’ve scored, which can be a problem, so we have to get that tidied up.”

In the weekend’s other matches, Kiama play host to Avondale, Vikings head up to Campbelltown and Shoalhaven face Camden. 

The final match of the weekend will see Shamrocks take on Tech in a crucial clash at Ocean Park. Sitting in sixth and seventh position respectively, both sides are desperate to maintain contact with the top four.