GROUP NINE
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CALLING a critical condition in the mountains, Tumbarumba coach Simon Vanzanten has labelled Sunday's clash with Junee a "must win" to stay in touch with its Group Nine top-five aspirations.
Struggling without their Fijian backline which has been held up by visa complications, Greens are struggling to find the right combination between their powerful forward pack and a lack of point-scoring potency.
Winless after two rounds of the Group Nine season, Greens are desperate to find their form with or without their late Fijian additions.
"We had a bit of a team meeting and had a discussion and just said we need to get right back to basics, just hold onto the ball, complete our sets and get to the kick," he told The Daily Advertiser yesterday.
"If we can start to do that we can be competitive against the top teams.
"We're just sweating on our outside backs to get visas.
"We just don't have the time to be waiting around. The committee and vice-president are putting pressure on immigration to try and get them out here as soon as possible but we can't leave it too late or it'll be six weeks in and we'll find it very hard to move up the ladder.
"Junee's two points are absolutely critical for us to stay in touch with the top five."
According to Vanzanten, Fiji is putting a halt on its immigration process because of issues with a group of people attempting to skirt the policies.
But while Greens' highly publicised comeback hangs in the balance, Vanzanten is getting impatient.
Vanzanten insists a 28-20 loss to Tumut followed by a 38-12 thumping by Temora at Batlow is indicative of an inability to maintain control.
"Our discipline was awful against Tumut," he said.
"I think we gave away 13 penalties and dropped about 10 balls so that's an extra 23 sets of six to defend in 28 degree heat.
"We were still in it with a couple of minutes to go and then they scored a couple of tries and changed it all around, but against Temora our completions were around 30 per cent and probably made them look good.
"We can't keep defending."
Greens will play Diesels at Laurie Daley Oval on Sunday.