RUGBY UNION: Before the start of the John I Dent Cup season Queanbeyan coach Adam Fahey said his boys would use their 2014 grand final loss to the Vikings as a positive and not dwell on the negatives, saying: "Now we know what it takes to play in finals".
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Now it's time to put those words into action as the Whites look to fast-track their journey to the 2015 grand final with a win over the Vikings.
The current win-loss ledger is 2-1 in favour of Tuggeranong. The Whites managed a four-point win at Viking Park in round five, but were beaten by five and a whopping 26-points in rounds 10 and 15 respectively.
The Vikings sit top of the table, eight points ahead of second-placed Queanbeyan, but on Saturday, July 25, none of that will matter.
As many will know, most certainly those in the 2014 Whites outfit, finals are completely different to the regular season and the Whites will be looking to book their spot in the grand final with a semi-final win over Tuggeranong at Viking Park.
The Whites are fresh off of a hard-fought 24-0 win over the Uni-Norths Owls, the second time in the last four matches Quean-beyan have held an opponent to nil.
Carl Elliot (one try) was good for the Whites and Dan Penca's return to form was more than welcomed by Fahey.
"Our forwards were very good [against Uni-Norths], we'll be looking to them against the Vikings," he said.
"The contest was very hard, it was the perfect prelude to the semis- we had to earn everything.
"It took time for us to get going, but I was happy with our ability to hang in there, stick to our plan and get the job done."
Fahey said the Whites were "quietly confident" going into the semi-final, but a top effort would be needed to take down the in-form Vikings.
"The boys are looking forward to playing them because if we beat them we've got a direct passage into the grand final," he said.
"If we do lose we've got another crack, but we're quietly confident.
"Our attacking options could be worked on, but we've got a strong defence. We need a perfect performance, our set pieces have to be 100 per cent, if we can get that we can win the grand final."