Eighty minutes of rugby union in six weeks, it’s hardly the best preparation for a grand final.
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Blayney Rams skipper Sam Nixon knows that, his whole side does, he’s just hoping that lack of match practice doesn’t ultimately cost the two blues a third-straight GrainCorp Cup Southern Division premiership.
The Rams take on the Temora Tuskers in Saturday’s decider at King George Oval, thanks to series of late-season forfeits their major semi-final win over Cootamundra is the one game they’ve played since July 29.
“No it’s certainly not ideal, we haven’t played much footy at all recently,” Nixon said.
“I’m not sure how confident we can really feel because of that, but we have been training really well so hopefully we’re well-drilled enough to get the job done anyway, hopefully it doesn’t impact us too much.
“Match fitness and cohesion is where it could have that impact, we’ll just have to try and make sure it doesn’t.”
Nixon said it’s tough to get a gauge on the Tuskers leading in too.
Blayney comfortably took care of Temora in their one encounter this year, winning 24-5, but since then the Tuskers have somewhat come from the clouds.
They beat Grenfell 29-12 in the sudden-death, minor semi-final before downing Cootamundra 28-17 in last weekend’s preliminary play-off.
As a result, there’s a real sense of unknown surrounding the Temora outfit.
“We haven’t played them in so long, I don’t really remember much about them,” Nixon laughed.
“But there was never much between them and Cootamundra, so it wasn’t too big a surprise to see (Temora win the preliminary final).”
But where the Rams are short of game time and knowledge of their opposition, they’re certainly not lacking in motivation.
Blayney is gunning for its third straight premiership on Saturday and considering its the club’s 60th anniversary season, the squad is hellbent on hoisting the trophy.
“It does make it a lot more important to us,” Nixon said.
“We’ve spoken a bit about it, it’d mean plenty to everyone to win a third straight title in our 60th year.”
To do that, Nixon says it’s simple.
“We just need to stay strong in the forwards and lay a good platform,” he said.
Kick-off is 3.15pm.