And the fire is burning to bring both for an 80-minute performance against Southern Beaches at Marcellin Park on Saturday, after last week’s heartbreaking 11-10 loss to Hamilton in the final minute of the game.

“I thought we would learn a lot from the loss and it was evident at training on Tuesday night,” Blacks co-coach Ryan McCormack said this week.

“They were hurting but their thoughts were aimed at how they can build on their terrific defensive effort and fix other parts of their game to ensure we can taste success in September.

“You don’t like to get ahead of yourself but things are starting to line up nice for us, we’re becoming the team we knew we could always be. 

“We’ve shown it in the last two weeks, we put 47 points on Wanderers and then really knuckled down against Hamilton. On the weekend we showed what we are capable of defensively and now it’s about building a platform to go on from that.”

The Blacks will be boosted with the return of co-captain Chris Logan from NSW Country representative duties and NSW Country Colts rep players Ben Wood and Isaac Ulberg, who makes his starting debut on the wing on Saturday.

Ulberg earns start in first XV

Star forward Michael Howell has pulled up well after his first outing back from an ankle injury, although the Blacks will manage Travis Brooke and Wood, who have some injury concerns, across the game.

“Michael pulled up really well and assured me he will be available for Saturday and hopefully we can get a full 80 minutes out of him,” McCormack said.

“It’s a really positive sign for Michael. He has had a wretched run of injuries since coming back to Maitland. He was a bit dubious about how he would pull up.

“Trav is still under a bit of an injury cloud, as is Ben Wood back from Country. Trav’s still struggling with a bit of a leg strain and Ben has a shoulder problem he actually got against Wanderers.

“We’re hoping that out of the two of them we can get one player and get 80 minutes 

“John Birrell is back to his fighting best after coming back from injury

“Other than that James Robinson is suspended this weekend due to a third yellow card, which opens the door back up for Willie Soe who is available again this week after being in Melbourne last week.

“The backine is relatively unchanged, we’ve got Chris coming back and also Isaac Ulberg after some terrific performances for country we are going to give him a crack on the wing this weekend.”