The Purpose Of Paper Bags

The Bears were well beaten last week when they lost to Mt Albert by 52 вЂ" 18. The Lions scored 32 points before the Bears managed to trouble the scorers and quite frankly the Lions looked like they had plenty in reserve.

The Bears have a lot of young players in their side and it is that inexperience that has seen them struggle this year as they look to the future. The Tigers have much to play for and it is unlikely they will drop their guard this weekend and should come away with a sound victory.

The match of the round is between two sides who will be vying for that fifth position that will make up the finals series.

Marist Richmond and Hibiscus Coast will face off at Grey Lynn Park on Saturday afternoon. This match shapes up as a minor final for these two teams. A loss to the Brothers will stop their run, while the Raiders will secure that position.

Both teams enjoyed good wins last week. The Brothers over bottom placed Waicoa Bay by 48 вЂ" 22, and the Raiders by 46 вЂ" 20 over Wellington.

Perhaps the Raiders win over Wellington was the more meritorious as that match saw both sides left with a chance to make the five but Wellington were never in the game and have now slipped out of contention.

However both sides will go into this one with and even chance but with the Brothers enjoying the home ground advantage. One thing in the Raiders failure will be that statistics show that the Brothers have failed to play out the full eighty minutes in some of their games this year. That won’t be an issue for the Raiders. However the Brothers can be quite devastating at times so the Raiders will need to ensure that their first half defence is strong.

It’s my pick that the Raiders will come through.

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