Belconnen United Scholars [5] v West Belconnen Warriors [8] on Saturday at 3:00pm at Northbourne Oval
The other local derby this round is the ‘Battle for Belconnen’ where the Belconnen United Scholars take on the West Belconnen Warriors.
After taking out last year’s title the Scholars have been building their form slowly over the opening rounds however Coach John Hawke was left less than impressed with his team’s performance against Goulburn last week where they were lucky to escape with a draw.
“We probably didn’t deserve the draw,” said Hawke. “We had a football side that didn't want to turn up in the first half and we had a very poor attitude. I thought Goulburn deserved to win the game.”
After a series of lopsided score lines, the win-less Warriors put in a solid performance against the Gungahlin Bulls last week.
Hooker Nic Whatman believes that while last week’s performance was an improvement, his side will need to lift significantly against the Scholars, particularly against their power-house forward pack which features three CRRL representatives.
“Last week we worked hard on completing our sets and tightening our defensive structure,” said Whatman. “It was an improvement but we need to lift again this week against the Scholars.
“There hasn’t been a lot of talk about the local rivalry but we know that they are a big side with a lot of good players so we hope to build on last week and put in another strong performance.
“If our forwards can do the job, players like our fullback Ricky Fulivai will be able to take advantage. Ricky played really well last week. He scored two tries and got us into a good position with each kick return.”
West Belconnen will welcome back five-eighth Joe Cramp for this encounter. Cramp was out injured with a strained meniscus for the previous two rounds.
Source: Raiders Press Release
Topic: Canberra Raiders Cup Round 6 Preview: Belconnen United V West Belconnen
