Eastern set to earn respect

By Marc McGowan
THE winning streak has hit six and Eastern Suburbs has only one more hurdle to jump – archrival Westgate Power in the inaugural Rugby Union Victoria Pillar Cup grand final.
Eastern edged past the North West University Lions 29-25 in their semi-final at Bob Jane Stadium on Saturday to reach the decider.
The grand final will be eagerly anticipated after the clubs’ last clash, which resulted in a 99-10 victory to Eastern when the Power fielded a second-strength side.
Westgate won 20-10 in the teams’ only other encounter, in round five in July.
Eastern coach Stephen Tia was furious after the most recent match, and found it to show a lack of respect towards his team.
“I think as a unit we are rapt to be in a grand final because a lot of pundits picked us to be fifth or sixth,” he said.
“The motivation for us is that we were shown a lack of respect three weeks ago (by the Power) and if they want our respect they will have to earn it like every other side in this competition.
“What we normally do is focus on our own game first then we’ll have a little chat (Tuesday) night about (the lack of respect shown), and that’s where it ends basically.”
After falling behind to a penalty goal on the weekend, Eastern struggled through the first half before heading to the change rooms with a slight lead.
Tia gave his players a serve at half-time, and despite the margin being tight in the end, he felt his squad always had the semi-final under control.
“They tried to slow the game down like every other club this year, and we tried to speed it up as usual,” he said.
“We were rusty after having a week off and I didn’t think we played that well, but we still dragged our bums off the ground and won.”
The premiership play-off is at Olympic Park on Saturday at 12.15pm, and will be a curtain raiser to the Australian Rugby Championship contest between the Melbourne Rebels and the Central Coast Rays at 3pm.
Gates open for the public at noon.
Entry is $15 for adults and $10 for students and concession card holders, while children under the age of 15 are free.
“We have been looking forward to this for a long time – we weren’t getting past ourselves – and now it is coming up very quickly,” Tia said.
“There is certainly a good feeling amongst the group that we could play in front of a decent crowd, and we’ll be going out to show our skills.”