SOUTHERN Inland cruised to a 75-3 over South Coast to start the Brumbies Provincial Tournament on Saturday, but coach Richard Turnbull wants his team to improve to take on the Goulburn-dominated Monaro side in the decider on Monday.
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South Coast started with the majority of its Southern Inland contingent and fired early at Conolly Rugby Complex.
There were plenty of feeling early with a number of Southern Inland teammates coming up against each other, before the game petered out in the second half.
The Marlins had most of the early ball and were the first team on the board when Wagga City playmaker Seth Stoltenberg slotted an early penalty.
However that was all the joy the visitors had as a bigger and faster Southern Inland team ran riot.
Although not the 115-point thrashing handed out at last year’s tournament, the Rams were hardly out of first gear to open the three-day competition.
Even with the comfortable win Turnbull is looking to address a number of key areas before taking on Monaro.
“It was a little disjointed, but the outcome was good,” Turnbull said.
“We didn’t play the rugby we are able to play.
“The link between forwards and backs wasn’t as good, our defence patterns weren’t as good as it should be, our management of the breakdown was not as good as it can be.”
Turnbull put the team through another session on Sunday looking to work on their weak areas.
Coming into half-time with a 34-3 lead, with forwards Ben Leaper and Ash Leferve crossing for doubles in the first half.
Leaper’s double came from rolling mauls while Leferve’s second was a 60-metre effort which included a big fend off close to the line.
While the forwards dominated in the first half, Southern Inland backs did most of the damage in the second half.
James Olds scored twice in the second half and played a big hand in Steve Tracey’s try when he chipped over for his winger to score.
Things could have been a lot worse for the Marlins with Southern Inland’s goal kickers having an off day.
Both James Curgenven and Olds are usually accurate kickers, however struggled with only five of Southern Inland’s 13 tries converted.
However the misses weren’t at all costly as the Rams rolled in 75 unanswered points.
Originally published as Simple win to start SIRU’s tournament by the Daily Advertiser.
