Gus Stanford tries to get a hold of a CSU player in their first round clash in Bathurst. Photo Chris Seabrook
With nine losses on the trot to begin season 2012 Cowra Eagles coach Colin Kilby said the mood in the camp is still surprisingly good.
Now entering the second round against CSU Bathurst on Saturday, the Eagles will bring a different approach - spoil the party for other Blowes Clothing Cup sides and throw a spanner into their semi final aspirations.
“In the last couple of weeks everyone’s decided that, based on performances, we’re pretty confident we’re not going to go without a win,” Kilby said.
“Now we will set our goals on upsetting as many teams as we can.
“To make the semi finals we would have to win every game and you’d like to think that can happen, but realistically it’s a big ask.
“We will focus more on playing for pride and disrupting other clubs’ plans for the season.”
Defensively in the last month the Eagles have rallied but scoring points is still a concern.
Something has to change and Kilby will be drilling his side in attacking options and creating more opportunities.
“I think we’re getting focused on some players individually trying to do the job to score the points rather than working as a unit,” he said.
“At times we can be recycling good ball and it’s only a matter of going too far yourself with the ball meaning slow ball or lost ball.
“We have nothing to lose so we’ll try and play fairly attacking football wherever possible.”
Although sitting in second place on the ladder, CSU have scored 229 points but have also conceded 200 points.
This defensive record, which has only two teams in worse shape, suggests they are vulnerable.
“We go back to the first round and we did score four tries against them,” Kilby said.
“We feel we can put points on them and our defence has improved markedly since that first round. So we feel reasonably confident that we can get a win at home against them.”
Cowra crossed the line twice in last week’s dour struggle against Forbes in very heavy conditions but the tries were disallowed.
It’s an area that has frustrated the coach.
“In our situation we need those to go for us,” he said.
“It is disappointing on the weekend that we weren’t rewarded due to [referee] poor positioning. Understandably being on the bottom of the table we are appointed the less experienced referees but you’d like to think there was greater consistency across the board.”
Kilby expects the forward pack to remain relatively unchanged for tomorrows match but could shuffle things in the backline.
A full day of rugby is scheduled for Saturday with juniors in action prior to the senior grades.