The Walcha Rams marked their return to the New England Rugby Union competition with a resounding victory against the reigning premiers in their round one clash.
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The Rams kept St Albert's College try-less in their 27-6 triumph at Bellevue Oval.
Heading into the clash, Walcha skipper Ed Churchill admitted he wasn't sure how his side would perform with a relatively new line-up.
But it was evident the town, which is traditionally strong in rugby, has continued to produce quality players.
"It is a pretty young Walcha team this year," he said.
"I think there is only six or seven boys that played last year.
"We have only had the one trial match so we weren't sure with how we were going to go."
But they were happy to beat the current champions.
Churchill said he wasn't aware they were the trophy holders.
But he said with the transient nature of the Albies club, they aren't "reading too much into it".
"I didn't even know they were reigning premiers until someone told me afterwards," he said.
"We just want to be able to beat everyone, whether they came first, second or last last year.
"We don't think it matters too much."
Churchill said their defence was good but with and without the ball, their discipline still left a lot to be desired.
"We were pretty disappointed with our handling and attack," he said.
"Our discipline was poor and adjusting to the new tackle height laws is something we will have to work on going forward."
This Saturday they will come up against their old foe in the Tamworth Magpies at John Oxley Oval.
Having previously played against each other in the Central North competition, the Rams are familiar with the Magpies' style of play.
"They generally to play a pretty direct game which we will be looking to counteract, we will try and play a lot of set piece against them," Churchill said.
"Our set piece on the weekend was definitely one of our strong points.
"So we will try and continue that on this week."