Palmerston Crocs looking to climb back into the finals race when they face off against University Pirates

PALMERSTON Crocs could find themselves back in the finals fight if they beat a University Pirates side full of forward power in Round 10 of the Darwin A-grade Rugby Union competition.

University Pirates’ Robbie Butcher will find himself a marked man against Palmerston Crocs. Picture: Che Chorley

PALMERSTON Crocs could find themselves back in the finals fight if they beat a University Pirates side full of forward power in Round 10 of the Darwin A-grade Rugby Union competition.

The Crocs are yet to play after the Christmas break and still sit bottom of the table.

But with what coach Aaron Hawthorne rates as his side’s best week of training this season, there is a sense of confidence ahead of the University Oval encounter from 5pm on Saturday.

“We’re looking pretty good and had our best week of training this week,” Hawthorne told the NT News.

“B-grade also came off a good win against Swampdogs so there’s a lot of positivity around the club with everyone working hard.

“We’ve had a couple of tight games where we didn’t get the result so I believe we can still make finals if we string a few wins together.”

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A finals surge will need to kick off soon for the Crocs and the Pirates who most recently won 18-17 over Casuarina will be first on the agenda.

University have a plethora of experienced campaigners including captain Ben Parkes and Wise Sekitoga but it’s playing-coach Robbie Butcher who the Crocs will be keeping an eye on.

Palmerston will look their strong combination up front and in the backs to give them an edge, with Clancy Needham set to play a key role in the back row.

While the likes of young guns Nathan Dixon and Ben Drayton may be called upon to put on the pace in the halves.

“We’re expecting there to be a couple tough games with the A-grade coming down to whoever kicks the best,” Hawthorne said.

“It’s looking to be pretty rainy so it could be a quite a low scoring game and we will have to make the most of our opportunities.

“Pirates will probably to kick to the corners and look to play in our half using their strong pack.

“But we have an idea of how they will play and have a couple of angles to take their key player Robbie Butcher out of the game using our best back row of the season and strong combinations.”

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Casuarina v South Darwin at Rugby Park is the other Round 10 game, while Darwin Dragons have the bye.