The Cootamundra Tricolours will learn where they stand on Friday when they face the Temora Tuskers.
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The GrainCorp Cup’s first round will be played at Fisher Park as the club’s home ground is unavailable.
Coach Mark Elia is expecting the Tricolours to face a vital pressure test which will shape the rest of the season.
“We’ve come in with light preparation while some of the other sides have done four or five trials,” Elia said.
With a solid core of 15 players including old hands and newbies, Elia said the team would “learn a lot” from their first game.
“Temora were in the final last year, it’s a good thing to learn from a tough side.”
While a lack of trials means some skills may be rusty, Elia said he would be looking for a good attitude among the players.
“We need to maintain our good attitude. It’s easy to do when you’re not running against anyone else,” he said.
Temora is expected to pile on the pressure and Elia said it show exactly what the Tricolours do well, and what needs improvement.
It will be Elia’s first game as a rugby union coach and he’s looking forward to how the team performs – his focus will be on Cootamundra.
“There’s so many things to examine. I’m interested in set pieces and will be looking at the game as a whole and then anaylsing what’s a priority to work on,” he said.
“I need to see what we’ve got, see what we’re good at and see what we’re not good at.
“At the moment it’s just all talk, until I stand on the sideline and experience it.”
The coach is planning to come away with plenty of work for the team ahead of round two.
The Tricolours women’s side play at 6.45pm and the men will play from 7.45pm at Fisher Park.