Rugby: Clubs brim with new positive spirit

Mount Maunganui against Rotoiti during a premier rugby game at Blake Park. Photo / George Novak

The opening round of the Bayfair Baywide rugby competitions kicks off tomorrow with a mood of positivity among the clubs lacking last season.

At the season launch at Farmer Autovillage on Wednesday night, representatives of all competing clubs from the far-flung Bay of Plenty region turned up in a show of unity after last year's bickering threatened to derail the Baywide concept.

New Steamers coach Clayton McMillan is impressed with the quality of rugby he has seen in the three local sub-union rounds played over the first part of the season.

"It has been fantastic to see some of those old local derbies have been reignited with passion and the desire is really there. The crowds have turned out in magnificent numbers and, by and large, people really do just seem very happy and are ready for the Baywide," McMillan said.

"Baywide does excite me but there is also a degree of anxiety that there are some positions that need to be filled. Ideally, I would love for somebody in club rugby to put their hand up and say, 'hey, I'm ready and I'm good enough'.

"We will certainly be watching with interest. We have probably 70 per cent of our squad locked in so there is a genuine opportunity there for local guys for the remaining 30 per cent."

Opotiki player Sam Carran said the Eastern Bay rugby community appreciated McMillan and other coaches spending time with their clubs.

"There is a general consensus in the Eastern Bay that we are overlooked by Bay of Plenty," Carran said.

"But the coaches told us that is not how it works. If you have the skills you are picked in the side, basically, and that has given the guys a boost to start with."

Bay of Plenty Rugby president Graeme Crossman spoke about a clear change in attitude among the rank-and-file clubs.

"I must say the feeling in the Bay of Plenty now as compared to what it was at the end of last year is dramatically different," he said.

"Everybody's enjoyed the first round. When you go out to some of those smaller towns and villages that make up the wider Bay of Plenty and see what role club rugby plays in those places, it is kind of humbling.

"I think we will see this mood that is going on in the Bay now spill out on the field with the Steamers and that will reverberate around the clubs as well."