South Darwin coach Jack Forrest says it’s time for his side to “polish their game” ahead of the looming XXXX Darwin A-Grade finals series.
The Rabbitohs are well in the race for a top-two berth after bouncing back from a disappointing loss to Uni Pirates to tough out a 20-16 win at Rugby Park.
“We put a lot of emphasis on the discipline side of things against Dragons and just getting on with it when luck went against us – really pleased we stuck it out and got the win,” Forrest said.
“Now it’s just working on a bit of consistency with our combinations and getter better at what we’re already good at.
"There’ll be nothing new to get through, just need to polish our game and polish the structures we’ve got on place.”
Souths fullback Joe Sorowale was a stand-out with two tries for the victors but the Dragons will take plenty of heart from another strong showing against one of the title favourites.
Round 12 Review
South Darwin 20 def Darwin Dragons 16
Casuarina 27 def Palmerston 0
Uni Pirates BYE
“The Dragons are nearly there and I’ll be keeping an eye out this weekend when they play against Palmerston,” Casuarina Cougars coach Luigi Andreoli said.
“It’s pretty much do or die for both clubs’ finals hopes and it’ll be the game to watch.”
Andreoli’s Cougars did the Dragons a favour in Saturday’s night fixture, crushing Palmerston 27-0 in the wet to extend their lead atop the A-Grade ladder and heap pressure on the Crocs.
“It all came down to us dropping us errors - we kept penalties down as well - but we just wanted to hold possession and not give away those unforced errors,” Andreoli said.
“One thing we’re proud of is our defence and we know we can keep teams out, so for us it’s about retaining the ball and I’m pleased with how we did that against Palmy.”
Round 13 Fixtures
Darwin Dragons v Palmerston
Uni Pirates v Casuarina
South Darwin BYE
Cougars Christopher Nurse and Emori Yaqona shone in tough conditions with a yellow card to Waisale Sekitoga the only blemish to Casuarina’s evening.
“Honestly everyone did their job really well and that’s important given our need to cover our depth ahead of finals,” Andreoli said.
“There’s always work and family commitments that come up so we want to be putting different players out there and making sure we’ve got the depth to keep our momentum going should players become unavailable in finals.”
In the NT Bitumen & Asphalt B-Grade fixtures, South Darwin and Swampdogs claimed tight wins over Darwin Dragons and Casuarina respectively before Katherine and Uni Pirates played out a 15-all draw.
Meanwhile, the Darwin Dragons women continued their unbeaten streak with Ayesha Kay starring in a 51-17 thrashing of Uni Pirates ahead of Casuarina’s 12-5 win over Palmerston.
