Hunter rugby union: Merwether coach Jamie Lind challenges pack to lift against Southern Beaches

But first the forwards, particularly at the set piece, need to do their bit.

Lind has challenged the pack to lead the way in a round-five catch-up game against Southern Beaches at Gibbs Brothers Oval on Thursday night.

The Greens ran in eight tries in a 53-27 rout of University on Saturday, but their scrum was in reverse at times.

"Scrummaging is like a gearbox in a car," Lind said. "If you take one 10 cent washer out, the thing goes to shit. We had a couple little things that didn't quite work against Uni and the scrum didn't work. The challenge is for the forwards to lift and really match the efforts of the backs.

"Sometimes you can have a scoreline like last week, where you win by 30 points and there is a lot of back-slapping going on. But you have to get the fundamentals right as well. Our lineouts have been excellent. Making sure we compete in the other half of the set piece is essential."

Darcy Christie-Johnston joins Ben Flemming in a new second-row partnership, while Liam Faughlin comes in at fly-half.

Southern Beaches are fresh from a 62-19 win over Lake Macquarie. Va Tailaleva will start at blindside breakaway.

"We have a game plan against them we prepared quite well for before the postponement," Southern Beaches coach Adam Dubois said.

"I watched their game against Uni. They did quite well. There is stuff to take away from that. We have an idea on how we need to counter their scoring options."

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