By Jon Geddes

AFTER a nightmare start to the season losing seven of their first nine games, Eastern Suburbs has emerged as a real premiership contender thanks to a shot of Crusaders’ DNA.  

The Beasties’ Kiwi head coach Simon Kneebone arrived at Woollahra Oval this season after previous roles as head forwards coach at the Crusaders Academy and head coach of the Canterbury 19s, which is a high-performance unit for the New Zealand Under 20s.        

While there was an adjustment period for everyone involved, Kneebone’s new coaching regime – off the back of his experience at the world rugby powerhouse – started to pay dividends towards the end of the premiership rounds.

The upshot is that Easts will take on Eastwood in what is shaping up as a massive sudden death quarter-final on Saturday at Eric Tweedale Stadium. “One of the philosophies that I have in this team, and the team really relishes, is that we ask them to express themselves,” Kneebone told Rugby News. “If they see an opportunity, then pull the trigger and have a go.

“I think that probably shows when we counter attack we can be quite dangerous and the boys love that style of play.”

That is the same mindset Easts will take into the game with the Woodies.

“Why change it?” Kneebone asked. “At the end of the day these boys give up so much time to play rugby, we want them to have some fun.”

GETTING TO KNOW YOU  

ASKED about the side’s transformation over the course of this season Kneebone said: “I certainly came in and changed everything, so everything was new.

“And it was always going to take time for players to get used to the way I do things.

“I’d probably say they are getting to like me a wee bit better and that was the change in it.”

Easts skipper Dean Oakman-Hunt said it was a matter of everyone getting used to different roles and combinations.

He also said a real positive for the side has been their counter attack.

 “We have to back our ability and we have some young enthusiastic players who bring that rapid pace to the game, they speed the tempo up,” Oakman-Hunt said.

“It keeps us old boys humble, we try to keep up with them.”

BEASTIES ON THE RUN  

EASTS showed what a dangerous outfit they can be last Saturday when they really took it to the competition frontrunners and well-deserved minor premiers Northern Suburbs before going down 32-29 in a thriller at North Sydney Oval.

They scored four tries to two, producing some smart some ball play and running lines as the outcome was up in the air until the final whistle 

“We can’t fault the effort, the boys went out with a plan and we executed it,” Kneebone said. “We missed a few things, we were probably two percent off and didn’t get the result.

“Norths certainly showed us how to be clinical in certain places on the field, so we will take a lot out of that.”

And what a change it has been from Easts’ first competition game when Norths whipped them 42-12.

“From where we were seven weeks ago to where we are now, I’m pretty humbled to say I am proud to be leading this group,” Kneebone admitted. “They put it on the line and we came through.”

GOOD VIBRATIONS  

THE coach is delighted with the commitment of his players to get the job done.

“Guys put their bodies on the line week-in week out,” he said. “I think of Archie Gavin who just turns up each week, Charles Elton who has come over from New Zealand, these guys must wake up on Sunday morning and feel like they have been hit by a train,” he said. “They keep coming back every week and that is fantastic 

“The whole group is really positive where we can go with this and are looking forward to it.

“We know we have the side to go really deep in the finals, we just have to get prepared.”

And Oakman-Hunt echoed those sentiments.

“We have just talked about every week being a challenge because we needed to get to the top eight,” he said.   

“It’s a whole new comp now, you go in and forget about the past and its week by week.”

NOT A QUARTER ASKED

THERE will be a bit of extra feeling in Saturday’s quarter-final as Eastwood have knocked Easts out of the finals in the past two seasons

“We have a bone to pick with them, so hopefully third time lucky,” Oakman-Hunt said. “We’ll be looking to return the favour.”

Easts will get a big boost this week with the return of the dynamo Waratahs backrower Charlie Gamble who missed the Norths game.    

“Charlie was a bit of a precautionary one with a hamstring early in the week, we are looking forward to having him back,” Kneebone said.