Match of the round in Round 11 of The BentSpoke John I Dent Cup sees Uni-Norths Owls face off against competition leaders Canberra Royals at ANU North Oval (kick-off 3:05pm).
The sides come into this tie both off the back victories last week, with the Royals beating Queanbeyan Whites 35-24 and the Owls defeating the Gungahlin Eagles 40-21.
With the Royals top of the table, head coach Joe Kolo expressed his gratitude for the team’s cohesion and performance so far this season, while highlighting hooker Chris Mickelson and fly half Samuel Toa as threats for his team on Saturday.
“I just feel a little overwhelmed seeing us at the top because it’s my first-year coaching first grade. To have everyone buying into doing their best at training and then showing up at games is something I am very grateful for,” Kolo said.
“Chris (Mickelson) is incredible when it comes to his line-outs, set pieces, scrummaging, and mauls, and Sam (Toa) is a real threat in space, so they’re definitely the two players we’ll need to look out for this weekend.”
The Owls have moved into the top four after last week’s win, following a 20-point loss to the Vikings the previous week.
Head coach Lachie Creighton was pleased with the win against the Eagles, but strives for greater consistency like this weekend’s opponents.
“There wasn’t anything new to take away from the Vikings game in Round 9; the biggest thing we focused on was regulating our mentality, and it worked out for us against the Eagles,” Creighton said.
“We just need to focus on chasing that consistency, and the Royals are the team to beat when it comes to consistency in most aspects on the pitch.
“They’ve got a good group in there, Liam Bowron, Chace Oates, Jarrah McLeod and Dan Nelson are a few players for us to watch. So we’ll need to focus on keeping the ball in hand and play longer phases and on our set piece, which is one aspect of the game we executed particularly well in the last round”.
This is only the second time these two teams have met this season, with the first match resulting in a 36-22 victory at Boomanulla Oval.
