Back from a stint in the NPC, Eastwood No.9 Lachie Albert returns to the Shute Shield this season with a fresh perspective on rugby.  The former Australian Schoolboy, who spent the first few seasons out of school at the Brumbies, played a season with Southland at the backend of 2024 and got an inside look at the New Zealand rugby machine.  “I was pretty fortunate, we had some great coaches in the region and they taught me a lot about playing to my strengths and understanding momentum in games,” Albert told Rugby News.  “We all know New Zealand teams tend to play quite well in certain times of each match and I think that comes down to their mentality around the non-negotiables, their ruck speed and their control of the game.” While Albert may have unintentionally cracked the code that the Wallabies need to win back the Bledisloe Cup later this year, he said he keen to utilise the lessons he learnt in the Shute Shield first.  “Some of the key KPIs that they s