Brothers and Sunnybank battle for Grand Final spot
Brothers scrumhalf and captain Brendan McKibbin will be looking for another dominant display to propel his side into next week's Trinity Premier Rugby grand-final when they face Sunnybank on Sunday (kickoff 3pm).
McKibbin was impressive in last week's 32-16 loss against Easts, scoring all of the Brethren's points with a try and four goals, but faces his biggest challenge of the season against a seemingly unstoppable Sunnybank outfit.
Coach Rob Murdoch concedes that critics could accuse McKibbin of trying to do too much but says that's just the way he plays the game.
"He's a very talented player, but I guess he does take on a fair bit of responsibility," Murdoch said.
"Brendan tends to play what's in front of him and I guess it could be said as a general comment that he overplays his hand from time to time, but that's the sort of player he is.
"He's our halfback which is one of the critical positions on the field, he's our captain, he's our goalkicker and he takes all that pressure on really well. He's always involved in the game and is very competitive."
Brothers' discipline has been a question mark throughout the year and was highlighted last week with lock Jules McLaughlin receiving a yellow card in a pivotal moment during the second-half, which allowed Easts to stretch their lead beyond a converted try.
As a result, Murdoch was forced to question his side about their behaviour on the paddock, which has also seen Liam Shaw and Simon Price miss games through suspension over the past month.
"We certainly cannot afford to have players sitting on the sideline for 10 minutes or longer at this time of the year," he said.
"If we'd be honest with ourselves there has been far too many guys spending time on the sideline for games. I guess they're just a very competitive bunch of guys and if anything hits the fan they look after each other.
"But it's not just discipline from a foul-play standpoint, it's discipline right across the paddock. It's about disciplining ourselves to perform our roles, disciplining ourselves to stay onside and not go into the tackle from the wrong position."
Brothers will be boosted by the return of Damon Murphy from injury and Simon Price from suspension, but lose Wallaby and QR Reds hooker Sean Hardman and winger Paul Doneley, while Sunnybank have lost inside centre Ben Lucas to a knee injury.
In their last clash Sunnybank dealt the Brethren their only defeat of the season, 38-11, and coach Roy Saunders is still confident his side can walk away with another victory.
"Last time we faced them we struck them on a pretty wet day and the conditions were a lot different to what I expect on Sunday. They've shown on a hard track what a handful they are," Saunders said.
"They were also undefeated at the time and that's a pretty heavy tag to carry around.
"They're obviously going to be hurting from the loss to Easts and I guess what they considered as their right to be in the grand-final.
"When it's do or die there is a whole different attitude, so that's probably what you'll see from them this week, but from us as well."
Since Sunnybank received its representative players back they've been ruthless in their domination of opposing sides, but Saunders has issued an ominous warning that his side can still improve.
"I think there are areas in the game we have improved on, but there are still areas we can get better at," he said.
"The breakdown has been an area we have struggled with all year, but it's been an area we have been working pretty hard on over the last couple of weeks.
"Brothers have a number of guys that play hard on the ball so it's an area we're going to have to be good at."
Saunders said while their dominant recent form could be attributed to the return of stars like Digby Ioane, the contribution of the players who have been there all season remains just as important.
"The Sean Armstrongs and the Stuie Killens are the guys we base our game around as they've been here all year," he said.
Sunnybank will be hoping this season will prove similar to last, where they defeated then Minor Premiers GPS convincingly in the preliminary final and moved on to be crowned Trinity Premier Champions after defeating the Gold Coast 85-19.
