St Laurence’s first XV coach Welmar du Plessis is thrilled with his side’s perfect 5-0 start to the AIC season but said there is a still a lot of work to do if Lauries are to finish the season as AIC premiers. 

Lauries knocked off Marist in the opening round of the season and have continued to improve each week, beating Padua, Iona, Peter’s and most recently Villanova on Tuesday evening. 

“The boys have put in a lot of effort over the last eight to nine months and it is good to see that the hard work is paying off,” du Plessis told Rugby News. 

“The job is not done however and we need to stay focussed for the last two rounds of the season.  

“We know that if you are not at your best, then any team can beat you so we need stay focused until the end.”

Lauries claimed a joint premiership with Marist last season, however the playoff match between the two schools was cancelled following a Covid outbreak. 

If they go on to win the outright premiership, it will be the school’s first since 2008. 

“We pride ourselves in doing the basics well and I think we’ve don’t that so far this season. 

“Our defence has been really solid, so has our set piece and that has given our attack the opportunity to score some great tries over the last couple of weeks.”

After playing their round five fixture early, Lauries players not playing in this weekend’s schoolboys trials will take the weekend off to prepare for the final two matches of the season. 

“There are still some areas of our game that we are not happy with and that are a work in progress, but we can see improvement in each performance every week,” du Plessis explained. 

“The boys have been willing to put in the hard work for months now and that makes our jobs as coaches easy.”

Following the weekend off, Lauries can guarantee themselves at least a joint premiership by beating St Patrick’s in a match with massive premiership implications. 

If they can beat Pat’s and then Iona in the final round, Lauries will be crowned outright champions. 

“Our focus is solely on our next opponent and that is Pats next week at Curlew Park. They have their Old Boys Day, so it should be a great occasion and a great atmosphere out there. 

“We had a good win against a really tough Villa side on Tuesday, but now it’s on to Pats.

“If we keep focussed and keep improving, then the results will take care of themselves.”