It was always going to be a tough ask but Quirindi will take a lot of encouragement from what they showed against defending premiers Pirates in their season opener on Saturday.
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The Lions typically showed a lot of heart, but also showed a lot of promising signs in the 56-14 loss.
Sure there are areas they need to work on like their tackling, but they also produced some of their best rugby for several seasons.
"I'm really pleased, it was a great result," coach Col McKenzie said.
"We knew we were up against it."
An already daunting task became an even tougher assignment when Pirates winger Sam Bowden crossed only a few minutes into the game.
From there the Lions were on the back foot, Pirates building to a 20-nil lead at half-time.
The Lions did find some rhythm late in the half.
They were camped on Pirates' line for the better part of the last five minutes and were looking threatening, but the home side held them out .It was a mere matter of centimetres a couple of times.
"That last 10 minutes of the first half was the best rugby Quirindi has played for years," McKenzie enthused.
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"We were on top of them. That was where we wanted to be, and we did it in patches."
He said it was a good benchmark for where they need to be, and showed there are some areas of their game they really need to work on.
"We learnt our tackling needs to improve. They were very strong in attack," he said.
Too many missed one-on-one tackles meant they "had to chase a lot rather than being on the front foot".
They also didn't help themselves with some simple mistakes when they had the chance to relieve the pressure. McKenzie felt some of those stemmed from their inexperienced and doesn't expect them to make the same mistakes in the future.
They are a young side, especially in the backs with all bar five-eighth Jake Murray in their late teens.
McKenzie said one the biggest pluses of the performance was that they never stopped trying, and as soon as Pirates made a mistake they looked to capitalise.
They were able to a couple of times in the second half with outside centre Ben Grant grabbing a double, but the reality is, as he put it, Pirates don't make many mistakes.
He also liked the form the senior players in the forwards showed.
"They worked hard and were determined," he said.
Grant was a standout picking up the players player and three points.
Centre partner Angus McKenzie earned the two and young half-back Lachie Bradfield the one.
