"In my eyes I see Tauranga as the benchmark team of the competition. I look at their playing squad and they have strike weapons all over the park so we are going to have to be on our game again to come away with a win on Saturday," Kuka said.
"But in saying that the group of men that I have are up for the challenge. They set themselves high goals and I expect they will rise to this new challenge."
Te Puna defeated Mount Maunganui 28-22 under lights on Tuesday night in an important win.
The game plan of putting pressure on through use of the high ball worked well with Te Puna's chase line forcing errors in the first half, before a solid defensive effort paid dividends in the latter stages of the match.
Te Puna's success so far this season is no fluke.
It is the continuation of the hard work done last year when a much improved team just missed the semifinals.
"We set ourselves a goal of trying to continue on what we put in place last year and we did some good stuff on the field but it is probably off the field where we are making the biggest difference I think," Kuka said.
"Just with our culture and our depth and all that sort of stuff. We definitely have some good young kids coming through and we have forged some relationships within the [Bay of Plenty] union and they recognise we have been doing some hard work and some good stuff in behind the scenes.
"Them sending young players out to us is not an issue anymore and they know we can look after them quite well."
In other Premier matches tomorrow, high-flying Arataki host Te Puke at Grenada Park in what should be a close encounter, Rangataua travel to winless Poroporo, Whakatane Marist re home to Rotoiti and Whakarewarewa travel to the much improved Paroa side.
Draws: www.boprugby.co.nz
