Image: Graham Landbeck

Brothers will travel to Chipsy Wood Oval to face Souths in a top of the table clash on Saturday in what coach Ben McCormack expects to be one of his side’s toughest tests of the season so far. 

Last year’s premiers have dropped just one match so far this year and sit five points ahead of Souths at the top of the Hospital Cup ladder, but McCormack said that won’t count for anything on Saturday. 

“We’ve had some good results so far this year but we’ve had quite a few tough tests as well and Souths in the first round was certainly one of them. 

“They gave us a good run for our money that day and we’re expecting more of the same this weekend.”

Brothers have gone from strength to strength under McCormack, who took the reigns from Brendan Gabbett following last year’s premiership. 

“We’re in a good rhythm and I think as a group we know our strengths and we know how we like to play,” the coach told Rugby News. 

“We were able to adapt to different conditions and different oppositions across the first round, so I’ve been reasonably happy with how things have gone to this point. 

“We’ve had a few ins and outs each week and that will continue this week but I think we’ve shown we’ve developed some good depth. 

“We had two new props start for us on the weekend in Liam Fletcher and Angus Lovelock and they both did really well. Flech scored a cracking try and was great around the park.”

Brothers beat Souths 26-22 when the two sides met back in round three and McCormack said he’s been impressed with how the Magpies have developed this year under coach Garrick Morgan. 

“They’re a good, traditional rugby side with some big boys up front that get them over the advantage line and some tall timber to help at lineout time. 

“In the backs, big Vili Raboiliku at inside centre gets them on the front foot with his first phase carries and then they’ve got some quick exciting players out wide. They’re a really well put together side. 

“Not much changes for us though. Defensively, we want to put a lot of pressure on them at set piece time and attack when we don’t have the ball as well as when we do. We’ll try to get up in their face with plenty of line speed and try to pressure them into some errors. 

“There’s not many holes in their side though so we’ll need to earn it on Saturday.”

While Brothers and Souths sit fairly comfortably at the top of the Hospital Cup ladder with seven regular season rounds remaining, McCormack said that could change pretty quickly if either side drop a few games consecutively. 

Just two competition points seperate UQ, Wests and GPS in third, fourth and fifth with Bond and Sunnybank also within striking distance of the top four. 

“It’s a great competition this year with everyone beating everyone. It’s been a really tough one to predict and the ladder shows that with the congestion from second right down to sixth or seventh. 

“Souths have been reasonably consistent and I’d expect that to continue. They’ll get some representative players back to help with that. 

“Uni, Jeeps and Wests will also get some players back which will strengthen them. 

“I still think Bond are the smokey. They’re still finding their feet but they’ve got some exceptional coaches and some exceptional talent across the board. 

“They haven’t quite found their rhythm just yet. They are doing it for periods of games at the moment and they can score points quickly. 

“But when they find a way to do that for longer periods, they’re going to be bloody tough to beat.”

In the round’s other matches, third placed UQ face fourth placed GPS, fifth placed Wests host sixth placed Bond and seventh placed Sunnybank host ninth placed Norths.