The Queanbeyan Leagues Club / Tourist Hotel sponsored Whites took to the field last weekend against Wests in the Club's only full trial before the official Vodafone Shield pre-season competition kicks off this weekend. Whilst the Whites have had the luxury of a number of 7-a-side tournaments to break up the monotony of the pre-season, this was the first real opportunity for the coaching staff to run their eye over the talented pool of players in a game situation.

From all the coaching staffs thoughts it was a pleasing first up hit out with plenty of game time had by the majority of players and despite still not being at full strength it was pleasing to get three positive results from the 1st, 2nd and Colts games played on the day.

Most pleasing to the coaching staff was the attitude of the players who managed to implement a number of the things that had been trained for, especially in regards to the new laws which will be implemented in season 2008. Although as expected at times the play and structure was a little rusty some attractive rugby was played on the day, with the visitors also indicating that they will be a forced to be reckoned with when the season proper commences. Players to perform well throughout the day were:

Colts: Josh Goodall, Nick Murray, Eirene Apineru, John Field, JD Stevenson
2nd Grade: Matt Bisa, Caleb Rech, Nathan Smith, Tim Hawke
1st Grade: Matt Sillis, Matt Hirst, James Cullimore, Rob Beath, Richard Windsor

This weekend will see the Whites travel across the border to Phillip District and face a Royals outfit that will be looking to impress and at the same send a message that they too will be looking to improve on last seasons 4th place in what should be a significant step up and a serious test for the locals. The coaching staff are anticipating that it will be a very strong good early test to show where the playing group is at against a Club who has had much more game time under the new laws, including a tough hitout 2 weeks ago against Sydney heavy weight Randwick. Games will kick-off at the usual times with a report to appear in next weeks Age.