Hunter rugby union: Southern Beaches sick of being also-rans and plot rise up ladder

Beaches crossed for 10 tries in a 62-19 triumph over Lake Macquarie at Ernie Calland Field on Saturday.

The win was Beaches second and moved them above Singleton into seventh place.

"We put in an effort of 90 per cent, maybe 95," Dubois said. "The extra five percent is what you need to beat the likes of Merewether, Wanderers and Hamilton.

"We had a recovery sessions at Redhead beach this morning. The boys are buying in. We are sick of being the also-rans. We want to be a competition leader. We need to keep working to get towards that. We are building a real bulldog mentality. We just want to win."

Beaches meet Merewether in a catch-up game on Thursday night and then face competition leaders Maitland and perennial powerhouse Wanderers in a tough stretch.

"We have the cattle, it is just bringing the polish to what we do," Dubois said.

Barnstorming Kiwi lock Luke Rosewall returned to the starting side against the Roos. He scored a try as did Va Talaileva, who played 30 minutes off the bench. Wingers Chris Hogan and Zac Rediger led the way with three and two tries respectively.

"If you score five tries on the wing it means the whole team is doing their job," Dubois said.

"Fullback Ruamano Akuhata linked up with Chris Hogan. They are mates from back home in New Zealand and combine well. Zac Rediger, I pushed from outside centre to wing, and he found his feet."

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Despite the lopsided scoreline, Dubois said the Roos were no pushover.

"Lake Mac aren't the easy beats that they have been in recent years," he said. "They need to be shown respect. They are working really hard and there are a lot of positives coming out of their game. The score didn't reflect their effort."

Elsewhere, Maitland overpowered Nelson Bay 22-15 at Bill Strong Oval to grab the competition lead.

The Blacks led 10-3 at half-time and 15-3 three minutes after the break. Bay winger Myles Eckersley cut the margin to 15-8 before Caileb Gerrard went over for his second to seal the result.

"In all the years I have been involved at the club we have never had an easy win up there," Maitland coach Luke Cunningham said. "And the Bay are playing good footy at the moment so I'm certainly happy with the result.

"Our first half was pretty clinical. Our set piece really dominated. I was a little baffled that we didn't gain and benefit from how dominant our scrum was in regards to penalties.

"Defensively we were on song, which you have to be against the likes of Chad Northcott. Their attacking ability is pretty potent.

"Second half after we scored the early try, we probably took the foot off the accelerator a little bit."

In the other game, Sam Rouse and Lachy Milton each scored a brace as Merewether out-classed an under-strength University 52-27 at Townson Oval

The match between Singleton and Wanderers was postponed due to the state of the ground at Rugby Park.

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