By Henry Jacobs

An in form Randwick outfit is staring down a challenging finish to the year with Southern Districts, Eastwood and Manly its final three fixtures before the post season.

Head coach Shannon Fraser believes the formidable schedule will benefit his side ahead of a potential finals birth.

“We have a tough draw going into the finals but I feel it’s a blessing in disguise, you want to be playing your best football . . . the strong teams bring out your best,” Fraser told Rugby News.

“You don’t want to go into the semis underdone and the way we look at it is if we cant beat these sides over the next three weeks, or be highly competitive, then we are just prolonging our exit out of the competition for another week.

“That’s certainly not what our objectives are, we are looking to go as deep as possible into the competition and ultimately win the championship.”

Randwick has won four of its last five matches and currently sits in fifth place on the Intrust Shute Shield table, five points above Sydney University and eight ahead of seventh positioned Northern Suburbs.

One win from its last three matches will see the Galloping Greens all but assured of a finals birth, but after a 42-5 defeat to Manly, in the first week of the 2014 knock out stages, Fraser understands the benefit of finishing higher on the table.

“We’re not looking to sneak into the semi’s and leave it at that, we have intentions of going deep into the finals and giving us every shot at winning the competition,” Fraser said.

“Momentum is critical at this time of year and certainly what we are doing is training to generate the most amount of momentum we can.”

Randwick hasn’t won a title since it’s Shute Shield-Tooheys New Cup double in 2004 and the prestigious history of the club makes results a necessity.

“You don’t enter competitions unless you what to win them, we certainly understand that winning is important and for a successful club like Randwick the standards are very high and we need to be working to make sure that we meet those,” said Fraser.

“First and foremost its about creating a sustainable winning culture . . . we’ve taken some major steps this year in doing that, that’s what we will focus on and the icing on the cake will be the titles that come with it.”

Fraser’s side face Southern Districts on Saturday and will have a stern challenge combating the Rebels imposing forward pack and electric backline.

Souths has also won four of its last five fixtures, including a victory over Eastwood, and is looking to seal a home finals birth with a strong finish to the season.

“You can use the cliché of defence wins games when you are playing a team that prides themselves on attack and plays sideline to sideline,” said Fraser.

“Any possession they get from broken play is extremely dangerous, so we’ve got to have defensive policies and an ethic that’s going to repel some of that and put pressure back on them.

“At the same time, we’re not looking to close up shop, we’ve got a highly talented young group that’s got a lot of confidence and we’re encouraging the guys to play, so it should be a highly entertaining game.”

Randwick defeated the Rebels 25-23 at Coogee, in a close encounter, when the sides last met in Round 9, but will not be focusing on past results.

“It brings confidence to know that you can win, but at the same time I don’t think recent form or competition positions are going to count too much come three o’clock on Saturday, its going to be the team that wants it more and the team that executes more accurately,” said Fraser.

Southern Districts host Randwick at Forshaw Park in round 16 of the Shute Shield at 3:00pm on Saturday.