Pioneers prepare finals ambush

Pioneering spirit: Wollongbar captain Matt Scott, who says his team may have a few surprises in store for their major semi-final opponents Lennox Head today.

THE Trojans had better be ready because the Pioneers are preparing an ambush.

Lennox Head and Wollongbar-Alstonville will meet in the Far North Coast rugby union major semi-final today and Pioneers captain Matt Scott has warned his rivals to expect the unexpected.

After going down to Lennox twice this season (24-12 at home and 31-0 away), Scott is more than happy to wipe the slate clean for a tilt at the title.

“You can forget about the rest of the year,” Scott said.

“This is finals time and it’s a completely different ball-game.”

It has been eight weeks since the Round 8 thumping at Williams Reserve, Lennox Head, and the Pioneers haven’t wasted a minute trying to devise a way through the Trojans’ light-green wall.

And the man with the biggest beard in the competition reckons his mates might have a few tricks up the sleeve that could trouble the premiers.

“We have been working on a few things at training,” he said.

“If we can put it together on the park then we might just catch them unawares. There could be a few surprises.”

The early-season competition leaders haven’t lost a match since the 31-0 drubbing from the minor premiers and should be full of steam come kick-off this afternoon.

Scott stopped short of labelling his side confident but all the signs are there.

“It’s more of a self-belief,” he said. “Lennox is the benchmark, for sure, but we feel that if we can produce what we have planned we can be successful.”

Lennox has become the bane of Wollongbar-Alstonville’s finals existence of late – the past two Pioneers campaigns have been terminated by the Trojans in the semis.

Many pundits believe supreme fitness has kept Lennox a step ahead of its rival in recent years – Scott agrees but reckons his is a side that won’t be run off its legs.

“We have a good mix of youth in our side this year and our boys are all fighting fit across the park,” he said.

The men in red will be scrapping even harder for this year’s premiership with the top-grade side set to be torn apart at season’s end.

The Damen brothers, Matt and Ben, are little chance to suit up in 2011 and club stalwart Kent Sharman will drop the curtain on his career.

“That does give us a little bit extra to play for,” Scott said.

“We’d love to send Kent out with a premiership.”