With the Blacks racking up several scores that more closely resemble good knocks in cricket, coach Ashley Gunn said the support staff were keeping their players feet on the ground, saying how they played was more important than the score.

Gunn said the games against Hay and Leeton were used to further refine the playing styles the coaching staff had implemented at the start of the season.

The easy couple of games also gave Gunn the chance to rest some of his front- line players who were nursing niggling injuries.

“We’ve been pretty lucky with the draw, that game down at Hay we were missing half of the side from the Ag College game,” Gunn said.

“But it gave us the chance to rest a couple of guys and test the depth at the club.”

Two of those players who are not certain starters for tomorrow’s game are centre pairing Grant Erskine and Ace Lomu. Erskine has been nursing a knee injury since Ag College three weeks ago, and Lomu has been limited with an ankle complaint.

Gunn expected the pair to train on Thursday night after giving them a fitness test, but said they would be given as much time as they needed to prove their fitness to take their place against Waratahs.

Mentally switching on from the kick off against a top-flight side will be one of the main goals for Gunn this weekend, with slow starts against Grenfell and Ag College almost resulting in the Blacks first loss for the season.

Despite Waratahs talking up their chances of winning the forward battle, Gunn said he had faith in his big men, with a better balance found after tinkering with the make-up of

the backrow in earlier games.

“They say their strength is in their forwards, but we will test their line out and their scrum,” he said.

The first grade game will cap off a big day of rugby action at Coro Club Oval, with juniors, right through to the top grade which kicks off at 3pm.