Any coach will tell you that if you dominate possession and territory more often than not you're winning the game.
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That certainly rang true at Tamworth Rugby Park on Saturday with Robb College virtually taking a mortgage on the Magpies half as they prevailed 33-7.
Their second win of the season, it importantly took them back up to fourth after the Magpies had leapfrogged them with their win over Barbarians the previous week.
"We needed this win," president Dougal Mims said post-match.
It was built on their domination of possession and territory.
The Magpies played a lot of the game in their half and through a combination of the students ability to hold onto the ball for multiple phases and their own illdiscipline were forced to defend their line for long periods at a time.
Mims paid credit to the "unreal" Magpies' defence and thought the scoreline wasn't a true reflection of what he described as a "very tough" and "very fast" game.
"There's a lot of big bodies out there from Tamworth," he said.
"It was very hard, we've got a smaller pack, but I think we got them just because we're that bit fitter."
That, and their "sheer will to get a win".
They were first to score with half-back William Clemson sniping around the ruck after what had been pretty much 15 minutes of pressure on the Magpies' line. Making a cameo in the green and white, Walcha centre Pat Keen sliced through a couple of minutes later to make it 12-nil.
Mitch Bowen got the Magpies on the board with a great individual effort but a blistering 40m run from Archie Cudmore saw Robb take a 17-7 lead into half-time with the home side blowing a golden opportunity in the final seconds.
The score remained at that until just over 20 minutes to play when the students started taking the points from penalties and Adrian Burl kicked the first of his three.
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Their first win since their first round encounter against the Magpies, Mims said it will boost their confidence and is "much deserved" for the effort they have been putting in week-in week-out.
For the Magpies it is a tough one to swallow.
Aside from their illdiscipline, co-coach Phil Cook felt they didn't really do a lot wrong.
But it's hard to win a game without the ball.
"At half-time I said to the boys 'look we're in this, we've got the breeze behind us we need to play field position', but we just didn't have the football to do it," he said.
The consistent penalties just didn't allow them to get a foot in the game.
It was frustrating for the Magpies and Cook said he didn't think they were as bad as the penalty count suggests.
But it wasn't only the penalties. They played the last 18 minutes a man down and for 10 of those only had 13.
Amid the disappointment, it was without question their best defensive effort of the season. At one stage early in the second half Robb peppered their line for about seven minutes but they held them out.
"We said in the sheds after the game that we need to hold our heads high over that defensive effort," Cook said.
