A young St Peter’s outfit has played above their weight in the opening month of the 2021 season and appear to be approving each week.

With 14 players returning for next season, coach Russell Todd thinks there is plenty to be positive about.

2021: 7th; 3 losses

Remaining matches: Lauries (A), St Pat’s (H), Marist (H), Iona (A)

How would you describe your side’s start to the season?

“It’s been a tough start to the season for our boys. Their work rate, effort and attitude has been exceptional but we have let ourselves down with some lessons learned the hard way,” Todd told Rugby News.

“The feeling from within the playing group is that they’ve lost a couple of those games themselves, as opposed to being beaten or outplayed by our opposition.

“This only spurs the boys on to keep driving forward, learning and gives them an opportunity to show that those hard lessons learnt have made them stronger.”

What are you doing well?

“For a young group their work rate, attitude, character has been exceptional this season, and drives the boys to keep improving week to week.

“Our scrum has been phenomenal having had the upper hand in all of our fixtures so far, which is a fantastic accolade for possibly the smallest pack in the competition.”

What do you need to improve? 

“Our decision making is probably the biggest area of improvement so far for us, but again is relative to the age of the squad. With 14 of the boys who have taken to field so far being able to play again next season, any lesson learned (no matter how hard) is only going to set the squad up better for 2022.”

Who is the team to beat this season? 

“On results so far you’d not be far off the mark if you tipped St Laurence’s to go the distance this season, they look a very polished rugby outfit.

“That said, there have been surprises in the “expected” results each week, so anything could happen heading into the pointy end.”

Standout players? 

“A couple of standout players for us so far have been back rowers James Roberts and Lachie Reid. Both boys give away a lot of size to their opposite numbers but are both intelligent, hard-working, effective players on both sides of the ball.

“They really set the standard and the tone for our team each week.”

What is the goal between now and the end of the 2021 season?​

“We went into the season without too much expectation on ourselves, but I’ve seen how much a couple of close losses has meant to the boys as a group.

“Our aim now will be to pick up our first win and add a second across our final round of games. At the moment the results haven’t been reflective of their effort, but the hard lessons they’ve learnt so far can’t be for nothing and they need to put their learning into practice to achieve our goals.”