It's wasn't the scoreline Southern Inland coach Nick McCarthy was looking for but he was still pleased with how the new-look representative program kicked off.
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Canberra side Uni Norths proved far too good for the Southern Inland side, finding plenty of inroads with their strong and fast approach.
Despite being held scoreless, McCarthy thought there were plenty of positives.
"The scoreline wasn't what we wanted to see but we really weren't going out there to win a game," McCarthy said.
"It was more a chance for us to see these guys in a game situation and we got what we wanted out of it.
"We were up against a really physical, fast footy side playing a game of football a lot of guys in our zone haven't exposed themselves to previously.
"To have a look at some of these guys playing against an attack that has been training together since December, and have had a few trial games already, was good."
The margin blew out to over 40 points however McCarthy didn't think it accurately reflected big periods of the game.
It is something he's looking to work on.
"We held them at the scrum and held them at the line out for most of the game," McCarthy said.
"It was a little bit quicker than what our blokes are used to, and for a lot of them it was their first hit out for the season.
"It wasn't a game where we looked like we were going to win but we had some moments that were quite good and other moments where little pieces of skill error and not being used to that speed let a few tries in around half-time really.
"We were quite good for a fair bit of the first half but conceded a few on half-time and then a couple straight after half-time and that was the disappointing part I suppose - not being able be to keep our composure through that period.
"All in all it was nice to see some of these have a go."
Tumut forward Menzies Seumanutafa was a standout in the pack for Southern Inland while Tom Boyle, Gabe Brown and Rob Wiltshire were strong against an experienced front row.
In good news there were no significant injury concerns two weeks out from the start of the season.
McCarthy thought Tumut was very accommodating on what was a big day of footy.
He's now preparing for the City v Country stand alone game in Leeton on May 12.
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