The Bowral Blacks will have the chance to snatch second place on the ladder after a round 11 victory over Kiama.
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The Blacks took a 41-12 victory against a surprisingly physical Kiama outfit.
Blacks head coach Gene Fairbanks said it was a tough fight against the South Coast team.
“Kiama played well, they had a pretty tough forward pack and were quite physical,” he said.
The Blacks suffered injuries to key players which made the win that bit more difficult.
“Our set piece was really poor, which was surprising,” Fairbanks said.
“We couldn’t win an scrums or lineouts.”
Despite this, the forwards defended well and in the second half, the team muscled-up and focused on the breakdown.
Lachy Huntington and Tim Lewis were responsible for two tries each and Fairbanks commended Donovan Du Randt on his efforts throughout the match.
“It’s a credit to the boys to have scored 40 points under the conditions,” Fairbanks said.
Vikings were defeated by Avondale on Saturday, which put Bowral in reach of second position on the ladder.
The Blacks will have the chance to take second spot from Vikings in front of a home crowd at Eridge Park on June 24.
Fairbanks said it would be a massive game for the Blacks.
“We are within reach to take second place from Vikings, we narrowly lost to them [earlier in the season] and we will be looking to rectify that and take victory,” he said.
Fairbanks said he hoped to see a good turnout at the game on June 24.
“Hopefully there is a big turn out and a great atmosphere for the players and Bowral supporters.”
The Blacks will work hard on their defence at training this week before the big game.
“We were working on our strength last week and that showed in the performance against Kiama so this week there’s not too much to work on other than defence,” Fairbanks said.
“Leading into the back end of the season we also want our breakdown to be exceptional.”
Fairbanks said the Blacks have had an outstanding season so far.
“They’re disciplined, their defence is good and they are beating teams consistently by around 40 points,” he said.
“They’ve come a really long way.”
First grade will kick off against Vikings at 3pm on June 24.