Focus on set piece pays off for Knights

COLLEGES coach Graham Herlihy claims his side have taken giant strides towards the Gold Coast District Rugby Union benchmark set by Surfers Paradise.

The Knights breezed to a 36-0 victory against the Gold Coast Eagles at Ashmore on Saturday on the back of a vastly improved set piece.

The scrum in particular has been a weak point for Colleges, who had even resorted to bringing in injured Wallabies prop James Slipper to give their big men a few pointers.

But Herlihy was pleased to report significant progress against the Eagles.

“We’ve been working hard on our set piece and I think we dominated the set piece (on Saturday),” he said.

“They (the Eagles) pride themselves on their scrum and it’s something that we have been working hard on, particularly with Surfers in mind.

“Our set piece is not horrible but it’s something that we are very aware that we need to be at a level to match it with Surfers.”

The return of prop Sepeti Junior Afu from retirement has helped, as has the form of No.8 Winiata Barrett.

Knights fullback Mitchell Herlihy is facing at least four weeks on the sidelines with a broken hand.

Bond Pirates brushed aside the absence of as many as 10 players to beat Coomera 50-0.

Surfers Paradise kept marching on, defeating Palm Beach Currumbin 40-21.

In representative rugby, the Queensland Country Heelers opened their tour with a 57-27 loss at the hands of the Queensland Premier Rugby President’s XV at Ballymore yesterday.

The President’s XV only held a slender 19-15 halftime lead but bolted clear after the break.