Dubbo Rhinos coach Dave Stuart says his side is searching for confidence to kick start its Blowes Clothing Cup campaign.
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The black and golds came out hard against defending premiers Orange Emus in round one at Victoria Park, but were ultimately steam-rolled in a 68-3 thumping to open the winter.
It’s a far from ideal start.
But Stuart knows things can turn quickly and a round two trip to University Oval is a timely one for his Rhinos outfit.
The Dubbo rugby club has enjoyed success over CSU Bathurst, most recently claiming an 18-16 win over the students in their last meeting, which was at Caltex Park.
That was Stuart’s side’s second win in a row during that part of the 2016 season, after a stirring 13-5 triumph on the road over Parkes.
It’s that sort of form the Rhinos mentor is hoping his side can recapture. And it’s that sort of form that will breed confidence in his playing group.
“We’ve set some targets this year in terms of winning more games than we have in the past, and we don’t want to wait until round five for that first win,” Stuart said.
“If we can get some confidence early in the season just to prove that we’re capable of competing at this level, then the lift in the boys will show in our performances.”
Stuart took positives out of the round one drubbing.
The 65-point margin wasn’t a true indication of the Rhinos impact on the game.
“We came out of the gate pretty hard against Emus, we were good for the maybe the first 30 minutes,” the coach said.
“But their size, their speed and their cohesion was just too much for us in the end, and they rolled through us late.
“I think against a team of similar size this week, if we can turn that good 30 minutes into a good 50 minutes, and continue to build, then we’re in for a better week.”
Cohesion will take time to build for a relatively new-look Rhinos sides, with key positions filled by new faces in 2017.
Still, Stuart was thrilled with the early work of his halves Collin Hokianga and Harris Solomon and the backrow of Dan Neill, Kane Rich and Teina Huia proved more than handy.
“I was really happy with our imports last week,” he added.
CSU battled in last weekend’s opener against Bathurst Bulldogs, the students on the end of a 58-10 scoreline.
Despite this weekend being just the competition’s second round, Stuart expected both sides to be desperate to kick start their seasons with wins.
Kick-off is at 3.15pm.
Nick McGrath
Editor, Central Western Daily
Editor, Central Western Daily
