How they handle the pressure they expect Walcha to exert will go a long way towards determining Inverell’s fortunes when they host the high-flying Rams on Saturday.
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The Highlanders will be looking to bounce back after a three-point loss to Scone last round.
“It’ll come back to our decision making when we’re put under pressure,” Highlanders coach Tom Davidson said.
Last week against the Brumbies their decision making at times faltered.
“We just didn’t get our processes right. We went away from what our strengths were against Tamworth and we paid the price,” Davidson said.
They did have a late chance to snatch a draw but opted to try for the win instead of taking the shot, and came up short.
Davidson said the focus this week has been on getting back to what they trained for, and putting the polish on their game ahead of what will be a tough encounter.
Fair to say it will be their biggest test so far.
“All reports are of Walcha being a top four team,” Davidson said.
“It’ll be a good yardstick for how we’re performing.”
“We’re not looking to do anything extraordinary, but if we do everything right, the boys are a good chance of putting on a good display.”
The Rams are unbeaten and in ominous form after thumping Tamworth 64-nil last week.
If there is one thing to deduce from that for the Highlanders, it’s that they will have to be on their game defensively, and stick their tackles, or the much-vaunted Rams backs will punish them. They also can’t afford to let the Rams’ forwards get a roll-on.
“When Walcha gets on the front foot it usually happens through the forwards,” Davidson said.
“They’re a well-rounded side.”
You can’t target one area and forget the other, he said.
The Highlanders are still ironing out a few things in their game, as they look to change things up.
“We’ve rolled in a few changes as far as the set piece goes,” Davidson said.
The forward pack remains the same as the one that faced the Brumbies but Davidson has made a couple of changes to the backline.
“We are blessed this week to have what is shaping up to be a very strong bench,” he said.
- Inverell team: 1 Tyson Kennedy, 2 Trent Hoscher, 3 Brett Miller, 4 Will Hollingworth (vc), 5 Bart Tomlinson, 6 Josh Stewart, 7 Scott Houston ©, 8 Will Mann, 9 Siaki Maea, 10 Nick Cumming, 11 Lai Nactuau, 12 Josh Phillips, 13 Craig Curtin, 14 Ryan Smith, 15 Dylan Lewis.