Hastings Valley Vikings tuned up for the Upper Mid North Coast Rugby Union semi-finals with a comprehensive 43-12 demolition of Southern Cross University on Saturday (August 6).
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The Vikings finished the match full of running, scoring three tries in the final 15 minutes, but captain Hamish Mccormack played down the impressive seven-tries-to-two victory.
"They made a lot of changes towards the end so I don't know if they were at full-strength and we'll definitely be wary of them come next weekend," he said.
The two teams will battle it out again in a first-versus-second major semi-final at Oxley Oval next Saturday for the right to host the August 27 grand final.
Mccormack acknowledged the focus for him and the coaching staff for the next seven days would be to start again and forget about the regular season.
Everyone knows the competition starts again when the semi-finals roll around.
"Our big thing is going to be to keep your head. You can't rely on what happened last week. It's all about what's in front of you, not behind you," the coach said.
"(If) you go in and rest on what's happened behind you and all of a sudden you don't get that win (into the grand final), you've got to go to Coffs Harbour for a grand final.
"Previously we've played teams in the grand final that have come from fourth because they've knocked everyone else off, so teams can come from anywhere."
Number eight Oscar Maleli continued his impressive form with three tries, was brutal in defence and was a constant handful in the forwards.
Mccormack said Maleli has been one of the Vikings best for four successive weeks while Jeremy Segol was also strong against the Marlins.
"I don't know if Oscar has worked out how we like to play our footy here or what it is, but he's been absolutely awesome," he said.
"Jeremy Segol was absolutely huge; he's played 80 minutes in pretty much every game this year and it was another huge effort."
The win on the annual Dave Mccormack Memorial Day added the icing on the cake in an emotional day for the family.
"Any team we play against on this sort of day are all respectful and they realise what the game is about as well," Mccormack said.
Hastings Valley are now one win from hosting another grand final at Oxley Oval and with their reserve grade side set to tackle Port Macquarie in the curtain-raiser next Saturday, a big crowd looms large.
"It's been a few years since we've had a major semi or grand final where it was Vikings-Pirates in one of the senior grades," Mccormack said.
"It's been a big week; three games in seven days, so we'll go back and make sure we're all ready to go on Saturday."