Illawarriors into Country Rugby’s final showdown
March 20, 2008
Section: Sport
JOEL RITCHIE
THE ILLAWARRIORS qualified for the Caldwell Cup final with a 12-nil win over Central West at Parkes on Saturday.
Illawarra’s senior representative rugby side will play Hunter in the Country NSW decider at Aussie Stadium on Friday, March 28.
Against Central West, the Illawarriors were camped in their own half for the first 25 minutes.
The hosts failed to convert three decent penalty goal chances in the opening exchanges.
Illawarra then scored against the run of play through Mark Tarasenko before Gavin Holder scored late in the stanza.
Although satisfied with making the final, Illawarriors coach Sean Barrett said his side would need to improve to win.
“We didn’t dominate the way we wanted to; their set pieces were very good and we barely won any line outs,” he said.
“That will be a key area and we didn’t stick to our game plan because we didn’t have enough ball or field position.”
The result left the Illawarra side sweating on the result of the Central Coast-Hunter match at Newcastle – Hunter did the honours by denying Central Coast a bonus point.
Barrett took some positives out of the game, including the team’s back row and the whole team in defence.
The Illawarriors were missing front rowers Iain Ross, Trevor Patrick and James Patrick for the match.
Scott Morgan (shoulder) and Paul Tausala (sternum) are in serious doubt for the final after being injured against Central West.
Barrett is confident his side has the psychological wood over Hunter after a 23-17 win at Ocean Park in round two.
“We have improved in a couple of areas since that game, especially in defence,” he said.
“We will prepare properly over the next week and manage our injury concerns.
“We’re quietly confident that we will get the job done; the enthusiasm is there.”
Barrett said that he had confidence in whatever combination he would choose for the final.