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The early tournament front runners meet this weekend in what promises to be an exciting clash between pre-season Bankwest Cup winners UWA and reigning premiers Nedlands at McGillivray Oval on Saturday.
Both sides started strongly and recorded a bonus point wins in round one that has them sitting equal at the top of the table.
UWA came from behind to beat Wests Subiaco convincingly while Nedlands thrashed Cottesloe in a rematch of last year’s Grand Final however both sides are expecting this weekend’s game to pose a much greater challenge.
“I think we got Cott at their weakest point on the weekend,” said Neddies coach Tony Ball.
“We’re definitely expecting the game against Uni to be a lot tougher.
“They’re on the up this year and will pose problems for everyone this season.”
Ball identified UWA’s set pieces and the speed of their forwards as areas of strength that his side has worked to negate during the week.
“We’ve worked a lot on defense and line speed in preparation for them,” he said.
“We’re expecting a fast pack so we want to shut down the space – especially around the scrums and lineouts.”
An already strong Nedlands outfit will be further bolstered by the return of Luke Doherty and Juan Pretorius, who missed the season opener to represent the Emirates Western Force ‘A’, and the reigning champions must go in to the game as favourites.
University coach Steve McFarland is fully aware of the class of the opposition and pointed to the same fixture last year as an example of what happens if you don’t close the door on a talented side like Nedlands.
“Last year we led them comfortably but we let them back into the game and were reined in,” said McFarland.
“We had another chance to win it at the end but failed and ended up going down by a point.
“They won the tournament last year and we’re coming off some good form in the preseason competition so I’m expecting it to be a good match.
“We want to continue to be good in the set piece and we’ve placed a real emphasis on holding on to the ball this week because we know how dangerous Nedlands are on the counter attack.
“We’ve also got to make sure we show up and are ready to play from the first minute because they’re a good front running side and if they get away early we could be in for a long day at the office.”
UWA v Nedlands
Saturday, 9 April 2011 at McGillivray Oval, 3.30pm
(Provisional teams)
UWA: 1 Nevin Mills, 2 Elliot Drury, 3 Ray Barkwill, 4 Tim Carslaw, 5 Bruce Smith-Wright, 6 Jeremy Smith, 7 Sean Ashton, 8 Ben Taylor, 9 Matt Shaw, 10 Andy Finn, 11 Mike Lees, 12 Nathan Cummins, 13 Lloyd Johnson, 14 Jesse Fatnowna, 15 Christian Joubert
Nedlands: 1 Toketa Tonga, 2 Mason Pamore, 3 Marlon Walker, 4 Callum Sauer, 5 Davita Tonga, 6 Oliver Baaisac, 7 Tane Edwards, 8 Luke Doherty, 9 Nathan Roberts, 10 Mike Botes, 11 Mat Venter, 12 Justin Webster, 13 Juan Pretorius, 14 Alvin Lau, 15 Bryce Penny Reserves 16 Kane Greer, 17 Rob Carter, 18 Rob Sauer, 19 Jayden Scorringe, 20 Krysten Lawrence, 21warren Black, 22 Paul Badham
Week 2 - Fixtures
Friday, 8 April
Palmyra v Wests Subiaco at Tompkins Park, kick-off 8:15pm
Wanneroo v Associates at Kingsway, kick-off 8:15pm
Saturday, 9 April
UWA v Nedlands at McGillivray Oval, kick-off 3:30pm
Kalamunda v Perth Bayswater at Hartfield, kick-off 3:30pm
Cottesloe v Rockingham Harvey Field, kick-off 3:30pm
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Originally Posted by Coach
Was the wait worth it - Ya betta baby 
