THE stage is set this Saturday for the semi-finals of the South Coast Zone’s rugby union competition at Captain Oldrey Park, Broulee
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Minor premiers Batemans Bay Boars will lock horns with Milton Platypi at 3pm in the major semi-final.
The Boars were undefeated until Milton found a chink in their armour last weekend beating the Bay 19-8 in soggy conditions at Frogs Holla.
Boars’ coach Matt Ryan was not overly concerned about the team’s performance and believed the Bay would “move forward” from the loss.
“It’s not a huge negative to the team, I can only see positives out of it,” Ryan said.
The Boars defeated Milton 18-7 and 47-24 in two previous games this season and Ryan said the club would review the most recent top-of-the-table clash.
“We do have to look into a review of where we dropped the ball as they are our main focus at the moment,” he said.
“It’s better to lose a game like that in the regular season than in the next two or three weeks.
“Hopefully it brings about an attitude shift and we can put our best foot forward again.”
The minor semi-final will be between Bay Red and Broulee Dolphins and it kicks off at 1pm.
The winner will face Batemans Bay or Milton the following week while the loser will play Bombala in the plate.
Broulee made light work of Bay Red winning 59-nil on August 9 at home.
The Dolphins struggled for numbers at training towards the start of the season and it reflected in their results.
As the season has progressed Broulee has been able to reduce the margins against the Boars and Milton while competing for longer periods in matches.
Team manager Murray Hadley said the senior team struggled to win matches early in the season but was now scoring tries that mattered.
“All the boys are very keen for finals,” Hadley said.
“We have a good group of younger players who are adding real depth to the side and we are building momentum week by week.”
Ryan believed it was an achievement for Batemans Bay to have two sides in the finals.
“It’s great for the club to have both teams in the finals and it gives a number of blokes who thought they would not play finals an opportunity,” Ryan said.
Dolphins’ president John Edmunds encouraged spectators to check out the semi-final action.
“It should be a fabulous day with two good games of rugby,” Edmunds said.