By MARK CASHMAN

Eastern Suburbs coach Pauli Taumoepeau would like nothing better than to be heading into Round Five of the Shute Shield competition in early May with four wins and other teams talking about the potency of the Beasties’ defence.

“We’ve been pretty slow out of the blocks for the past couple of years and it impacts on the way that you approach the season as it unfolds,” Taumoepeau told Rugby News this week.

“Last year we were one from four at that stage of the season and the competition table becomes a constant in the way that you look at things.

“I can remember last year at one stage of the season we had just won our fifth game in a row - I don’t think an Easts 1st Grade team has done that in some time - and going outside the dressing sheds to talk to a few people and they said why aren’t you happy.

“I said that of course I was happy, but the person who I was talking to came back to me and said: ‘Well your face is telling me a different story’.