On the back of wins over Souths and Brothers in recent weeks, Wests head into the opening weekend of this year’s Hospital Cup finals series with plenty of wind in their sails. 

Last year’s grand finalists dropped games to fellow finalists Brothers, UQ and Souths and GPS in a five week period through the middle part of the season, but have looked like a completely different in recent weeks. 

“After the mid season slump we had, we’ve been building nicely and I feel as though we’ve found out feet now,” Wests skipper Connor Anderson told Rugby News. 

“It’s obviously a very big test this weekend. I know Brothers are coming off a loss and a few poor results, but we know they’ll get right up for a finals match. 

“We had a bit of a shift in focus after we got belted by Uni midseason. That was a bit of a wake up call and made us realise that we weren’t playing as well as we thought we were and things started to turn after that. 

Wests led Souths 26-10 after 50 minutes last Sunday but conceded three second half tries in the 33-25 victory. 

That result ensured the Bulldogs of a spot in Saturday’s major semi final against defending premiers Brothers, who Wests beat 39-12 in late July.

“Defensively, we were really good that day considering we played 60 minutes with 14 players and only conceded three tries,” Anderson explained. 

“It comes down to effort and playing for the guy beside you in important games like that. As cliche as it is, that’s what gets results. 

“They’ll be better than they were that day. I’m expecting they’ll have James O’Connor at 10 steering the ship so we’ll need to be at our best to beat them.”

The winner of Saturday’s semi moves straight into the Hospital Cup decider to be played at Ballymore on Sunday September 1. 

The loser will face the winner of UQ and Souths at Brothers next weekend. 

“It’s anyone’s game I reckon,” Anderson said. 

“We obviously beat Souths in a tight, physical contest and they’ve now got to try and beat a red hot Uni side this week. 

“But to be honest, all four sides are good enough to win on their day so it’s going to be an interesting few weeks of footy.”