It’s a Belfast derby on Wildcard weekend in the SBC as the Trojans and the Knights do battle at Harlequins Rugby Club on Sunday afternoon. This is their third meeting of the season, with both sides winning their away games.
The Knights played the Trojans in their last game, just two weeks ago losing 25-0, but Offensive Coordinator Phil Gunning said his side learnt a lot from that game despite the loos. He told us, “In our last game, ironically against this weekend’s opponents the Trojans, our defense played well, they really did. It was just 6-0 into the third quarter, but our offense had a shocking day. We rotated a few quarter-backs and tried a couple of things that didn’t turn out great. The Trojans dominated time of possession off the back of that, and we just asked too much of our defenders to keep it close.”
“We learned a lot about ourselves though, and identified a few things to work on to turn the result around in the playoffs.”
Gunning knows winning on Sunday will be difficult, but he’s confident his side can do the business, “Looking forward we need to play to our strengths better. We just have to execute our gameplan better. We know we are able to win, we beat the Trojans earlier in the year. They’re an excellent team and have been at the top of the sport here now for a very long time. Nothing less than our best will do but we’re confident that if we play up to the occasion we can take a win.”
“Both sides were missing quite a few key players in the last game, so hopefully they’re all back this time round to put on a show for the spectators that make it down.”
So, who do the Knights rate as a big dander this weekend? “Obviously (Trojans running-back) Jonah Siri is a huge threat. The Trojans do a lot well but they definitely have an X-factor in the backfield that we need to account for. Their defence shut us out in the last game too, with a few good players on that side of the ball.”
“Ultimately it’s gonna come down to a handful of plays. We’ve seen that home field advantage matters little in this rivalry, since the away team won both games this season, but we’re hoping to continue that trend and take the season series for Belfast.”
The Trojans and the Knights will do battle this Sunday afternoon July 22nd with a 2pm kick-off.