Tenterfield Bumblebees took the bye in the North Coast President's Cup last weekend, and will travel to Ballina this Saturday to take on Ballina. Coach Phil Jones said it should be an interesting game, and Ballina would be hard to beat at home.
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"They beat us up here," he said.
"They ambushed us a little bit, I think we took them a bit lightly too.
"They've sort of been the ladder movers, while we've been sitting up in the top three for a fair bit of the season, while Ballina's sort of worked their way up from sixth up into fourth."
As tough as Ballina's reputation is, the Bumblebee's 24-5 win over competition heavyweights, and last season's minor premiers, Evans River at Federation Park two weekends ago demonstrated what they are capable of with some aggressive play and solid defence.
"Ballina hasn't beaten the top sides, Yamba or Evans, but they have beaten everybody else," Jones said.
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"So, they'll be tough enough down there. We've just got to make sure we're on our game and get to training this week. Train hard and play hard.
"Training hasn't been too bad. The weather hasn't been too kind. We need to get everyone there so you can go through your moves and set plays and everything, but typical, it's a bit "bush footie", isn't it?"
Jones said the team was carrying a few injuries as well, which was not helping things.
"We've got two or three, sort of in key positions, but then we've got a bit of depth there as well, we're lucky, we've got blokes we can put in there as well," he said.
"They're a real physical side and they play traditional rugby. We need to be able to match them in scrums and line-outs and the breakdown, it's crucial that we beat them in those areas."
Jones said if the Bumblebee backs could be given some good quality ball they would score plenty of points.