The Goulburn Dirty Reds men have gotten their 2020 campaign off to an ideal start following a strong victory last weekend at the Kiama Sevens tournament for the second year running.
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After dominating the early rounds against Batemans Bay, Jindabyne and Molong, the Dirty Reds progressed through to the grand final against Kiama, and claimed a close victory 17-10.
Though there is a significant difference between sevens and fifteens, and so the win in Kiama cannot be used as an overly accurate indicator of pre-season form, Dirty Reds coach Mik Webber said the tournament was a great opportunity for his team to gel.
"Sevens is not too similar to 15s, but the core of our playing group came down, so everyone's pretty happy [with the performance]," Webber said.
"It was actually just a really good club day and team building day. Everyone had a lot of fun ... it was a pretty good day for the club."
Along with the men's win, the Dirty Reds women made it to the grand final, where they lost to Jindabyne 20-7 in a replay of the 2019 final.
Now that their first tournament of the year has been successfully completed, the Dirty Reds now have one more pre-season fixture on March 14 against Wollongong Uni in Goulburn.
"They're pretty tough, they're bringing two sides down," Webber said.
"They'll be tough, they're a pretty competitive side in the Illawarra competition, and it's one of the stronger competitions in country NSW."
With only one 15s fixture before the season starts, Webber said the the Dirty Reds' training will focus more on match scenarios in the lead-up to the season opener on March 28.
"More [match scenarios] I think, because we know what we've got within the group it's not too concerning that we've only got the one trial," Webber said.
This year Goulburn will field a largely similar team to that of 2019. Having lost only a couple of players from last year, and gained several newcomers, the core of the playing group remains in tact, which will give the Dirty Reds much-needed continuity.
"We have a couple of younger guys who have finished at Trinity and come through, and a lot of familiar faces [returning]," Webber said.
"Obviously new faces are more than welcome, but that was one reason why I took the coaching role, because we've had similar coaches and similar players for the last few years so it's not like we are starting again."
This sense of continuity and familiarity, Webber said, was a huge factor in the team's success last year, and he hopes it will have a similar impact in 2020.
Now that the start of the season is less than a month away, the team will start to ramp up their training.
"I think a few of the boys are keen to ramp up a bit of contact in the next few weeks, which we haven't done a whole lot of," Webber said.
"It's still just some skills, fitness, and team structure stuff. We need to start focusing on our scrum too.
"That'll be the focus of the next three weeks."
Webber also thanked the sponsors on behalf of himself and the rest of the squad for the Kiama Sevens team kit: Goulburn Power Centre, Reardon's Building Group, and McGaws Joinery.
Without their support, Webber said, "we probably wouldn't have gotten down there."
The Goulburn Dirty Reds train on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6.30pm at Poidevin Oval.
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