Both the Roosters and Panthers will be forced to divide and conquer as Group 16 goes into a pseudo split round.
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Matches between the Roosters, Panthers and Narooma will be split across Saturday and Sunday at two separate grounds.
The league tag clashes will see both the Candelo-Bemboka Pink Panthers and the Bega Chicks playing two draws, against each other at Bemboka’s Colombo Park on Saturday from 2pm.
But then both clubs will back up at Narooma’s Bill Smyth Memorial Oval on Sunday to contest games against the She-Devils.
The Bega reserve grade will also face the Panthers at Colombo Park in a hotly anticipated showdown as the Panthers come in on the back of strong wins against the Eels and Batemans Bay.
Preliminary times for Sundays draw pit the Pink Panthers against the She-Devils at 11am.
The draw will be followed by the under 18s contest at noon, then the second league-tag tie between Narooma and Bega at 1.30pm and the first grade draw from 2.30pm.
In the first grade clash, the Devils don’t boast the same size as the Roosters and will heavily focus on the fringes to make their plays.
The Roosters have been buoyed by excellent displays out of the front row – Jarrod Tamatea, Todd Ingram and Kane Morgan all making huge impacts in play last round against the Bay.
It will be the same combination working the play through the middle for Bega, but the flanks will be tasked with some tricky defensive work.
The edges of the Roosters are not weak by any stretch of the imagination with the likes of Ricky Stapleton, Scott Fuller and James Bower-Scott able to make some snap plays and gain big metres on the fringes.
Look for the Roosters to send the ball up the ruck before launching wide late in the tackle count to put the flankers through.
With the size disparity, some good runs by Bega’s front men could go a long way to exhausting the Narooma defensive line.
It will also be a big task for the Panthers and Chicks to back up for respective rounds, especially given the speed and elusiveness of Narooma strike player Lilly Bennett.
The young gun, whose just made Commonwealth Games selection for rugby, can be hard to catch at the best of times, with Bega looking to their own speedster in Madison Parbery to close out Bennett’s scoring account.
For the Pink Panthers a lot of the work could fall on Sharnie Long, who had an outstanding display against Eden last weekend.
Fans may be forced to pick and choose which games they watch at what ground, but should be rewarded with some exceptional football at either contest.
Saturday play is at Colombo Park from 2pm and Sunday kicks off at 11am at Narooma.