By MARK CASHMAN

Lot of talk this week further up the chain about having to play the best to compete with the best and that’s the attitude that Eastern Suburbs coach Pauli Taumoepeau has taken into the Beasties’ Round Nine clash against Northern Suburbs on Saturday.

The Beasties head into the weekend rumble with Norths at Woollahra Oval with a five and three record from their eight games, but it must be said that expectations of them have been a little further north of that.

Many thought that they should be further up the competition at this stage of the Shute Shield but there have been signs in recent weeks that it’s starting to come together.

Fourth place isn’t too shabby by the way and the work of their playmaker Rohan Saifoloi is starting to strike pay dirt.

The Shoremen will give them a real workout and according to Taumoepeau will provide some sort of idea of where his side needs to be.

“They’re the best in the business at the moment,” Taumoepeau told Rugby News.

“They’re clinical, persistent and have minimal errors in them but we’re really looking forward to the challenge. We need to play well to be in this one.”

Taumoepeau added that they would have to keep a very close eye on the Burey brothers, skipper Harry and stand-in flyhalf Max.

“They pose a genuine threat and it must be unreal playing next to your brother at this level,” Taumoepeau added.

“They seem to have a good understanding of each other’s game. They compliment each other well. We need to make sure we’ve got eyes on them at all times.

“One thing that we can’t let them do is to allow them to roam the field unmarked.

“We’ve broken the big job we need to do into small parts. So everyone has a big job to do our end but we’re really looking forward to this one.”

Easts have teamed Irie Papuni and skipper Jack Digby in the second row for this one and continues with his backrow of Archie Gavin, James Donato and Dean Oakman-Hunt.

Norths are pretty much how they were after the first 20 minutes against Manly with Max Ma’a coming in at tight head prop and Gary Bautz replacing Charlie Jeavons-Fellows in the No.7 jersey.

The Shoremen will miss Jeavons-Fellows speed and work rate but these past few weeks have let coach Zak Beer test his depth.

There were fears Jeavons-Fellows would miss the rest of the season but he is now expected back after Norths second bye in a little over a month.

The big in though is James Turner working his ways on the right edge.

‘Jimmy the Jet’ could well be the difference between these sides.

IMAGE: KAREN WATSON