Bowral Blacks ready for start of Illawarra District Rugby Union competition

It won't be easy though, as they begin their journey against last year's premiers Shoalhaven at Eridge Park from 3pm on Saturday, April 15.

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The Blacks are filled with youthful players and club coach Steve Talbot said the season opener would be a difficult match.

"We have a young squad who have been training under the guidance of coach James King," Talbot said.

"It will be a big test for them as Shoalhaven is a quality outfit with lots of experience."

The development of the squad suffered in recent years due to a combination of COVID-19 and wet weather, so Talbot making finals would be a great achievement.

"The squad has not recovered from the pandemic," he said.

"We missed one full season and half of another, which was followed by last year where the weather restricted our playing and training.

"This year's squad is young, so we need to be a bit measured with setting goals, but we believe a spot in the finals is achievable."

Like most teams that want to improve, the Blacks had a long hard look at what went wrong last season and vowed to never repeat the same mistakes.

"Last season, we let ourselves down by not playing to our game plan," Talbot said.

"We also had poor game management and those points were addressed by the group.

"I'm expecting to see a well organised and committed team take the field each week."

The Blacks have an unfriendly start to the season, with three of their opening five matches being played away from home.

However, they play four home games in their final five matches.

Every home fixture, the bar and the canteen will be open from midday while there will be live music in the clubhouse in the evening.

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