Shamrocks coach Paul Ridgway regularly speaks of the rule of two.
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If you want to make the Illawarra Rugby finals, you can only afford to lose two matches throughout each half of the season.
That is how many matches Ridgway's side has dropped thus far.
With a clash with Avondale on Saturday followed by fierce rivals Vikings next weekend, the coach knows his team, fourth on the ladder, can't afford to lose any more games if they want to remain in touch with the top sides.
"If you drop two or three games in the first round and do the same in the second round, you're every chance of not making the post-season," Ridgway said.
"With Vikings and us around the same points on the table, if they get a win and we drop a game, we're losing touch with those top teams pretty quickly. We want to avoid that as much as we can.
"Avondale are a big challenge for us at this time of year, we're looking forward to that challenge.
"We like playing those guys, it's always competitive and in this competition it's hard to avoid how important a win is at this stage."
Avondale have made an unbeaten start to the season, however they are fighting off an increasing crop of challengers.
With last week's clash with Bowral washed out, Saturday's match marks their first against one of the competition's elite squads.
The Wombats will likely be in the mix for another premiership, however a number of teams believe their run of dominance could be approaching its end.
The next month will be telling for Avondale, the side playing Shamrocks, Shoalhaven, Campbelltown and Bowral in successive weeks.
Woonona returned to form with a 33-7 win over Kiama last weekend, the victory snapping a two-game losing streak.
Both losses came against unbeaten sides, Shoalhaven winning at home before Campbelltown pulled off a second-half comeback to claim victory on the bell.
The defeat to the Harlequins was particularly tough to take for Shamrocks, the team leading 19-0 at the break on their home turf.
Ridgway is confident his side has learnt from the result, lessons the coach is expecting to see against Avondale.
"We know we give away a lot of size, particularly up front, so we're going to have to play a structure that moves players around and keep the ball in hand for long periods of time,'' he said.
"We'll rely on trying to attack where we've got mismatches within those structures. We need to be smart about how we play. When we identify quality attacking opportunities, we have to make the most of those."
Saturday's other matches will see Vikings host University, Phil Green's side looking to break into the top four, while Tech are chasing back-to-back wins in a Camden road trip.
Kiama host Bowral and Shoalhaven will make the drive north to face Campbelltown in a clash between two unbeaten teams.
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