The Yass Rams made the trip out to Braidwood to face the Redbacks on the weekend, leading early but fading late to go down 23-21.
Leading the match 21-3 at halftime, the Rams looked set for a big upset against a quality Braidwood outfit on their home turf.
However, it’s been the tale of 2021 for the Rams, with faulting starts or late fadeouts riddling their season and costing them nearly every week.
This week was no different, as the Redbacks piled on 20 unanswered points to steal the game from the Rams and leave Coach Ian McFarlane understandably frustrated.
“I think we’ve lost five or six by less than six points.”
“We’ve got the ability, we’ve got the fitness, the structure and the game plan. We just don’t have the mental yet. We don’t have the confidence or the winning feeling to do this.”
“It’s a life lesson. They’re a bunch of young blokes and it’ll come to them. When it comes they will win a premiership,” he said.
Ian is still holding out hope for a potential top-three finish and finals run, despite having only two wins from their eight games this season.
“We’re still a chance to make finals. I reckon if we win three of our next four, we’ll be there.”
“The other teams in the draw have tough runs in and we’ve just got to trust our own ability. I think if they put two together, they’ll get three.”
“If we could win three of the last four and sneak into a semi-final, that’s way over and above what we expected this year,” he said.
While the losses hurt, Ian acknowledged they’re a necessary part of the rebuilding process, which he believes is working and will set the club up for years to come.
“Last year they won no games. This year we’ve won two and possibly could’ve won seven.”
“It’s part and parcel with trying to rebuild a club and that’s what we’re doing. We’re trying to rebuild and get a culture in there, and it’s working.”
The Rams make the journey down to Bermagui in what is a must-win clash for their finals hopes in season 2021.
A three-week break between games for the Yass Ewes and improved team performance on return sees the Ewes go down by 14 points to the Jindabyne Miss Piggies.
Ewes Coach Stephen Crisp spoke to the remarkable improvement of his side since they played Jindabyne last.
“That same team we lost 55-5 last time and this time we were only down 22-15 until the last minute and we had a try disallowed.”
“The game was very close and was probably one we let get away.”
“Their coach was very impressed with our straight running and our offloads. Passing in the tackle really caused them a lot of trouble. I think he was very impressed with our structure and our straight running,” he said.
Stephen says there are two critical learnings for the Ewes from the match. The first regarding the way they defend, and the second regarding the way they attack.
“We could’ve easily won, it was just the speed around the edges. We defended it really well for 90% of the day, we’ve just got to stick at it for the full game.”
“The other thing we need is patience. When we get down close to the line, don’t think we have to score on the next play just because we’re close to the line. If it takes two or three more plays then it takes two or three more plays.”
“They’re playing extremely well though and the opposition coach was very surprised by how much we’d improved,” he said.
The result sees Jindabyne gain a further lead at the top of the Country pool, while the Ewes remain in second and look set for a semi-final berth in only their first season. However, Stephen believes the gulf in class between the City and Country pools at the moment is too substantial to be hopeful beyond that semi-final mark.
“We’ll probably play in the semi finals but I can’t see any of the Country sides beating the City sides. They’re just too powerful and have too much speed around the paddock for all the country sides I suspect,” he said.
The Ewes next week head to Bungendore to take on Mudchicks and would come close to securing a spot in the top three with a victory.
Max O’Driscoll
