Rugby: Parker banks on lessons learnt

TOUGH START: BOP Development's Danny Kayes goes into a tackle with Jeff Thwaites (left) and Beau Williams in support, in Sunday's opening loss to North Harbour Development.PHOTO/DROPS PHOTOGRAPHY

Three Bay of Plenty rep teams are in action this weekend, ranging from the Roller Mills intermediate school age group team to the Bay Development side.

Coach Kane Parker will be desperate to see a better performance from his development side against Auckland Development tomorrow, after the opening 57-43 loss to North Harbour at Baypark on Sunday.

The Bay conceded eight tries in a poor performance defensively, which he says has been worked on this week.

"I think as a team we've definitely taken some learnings out of it. We can definitely fix those learnings," he said.

"Things won't be getting any easier with Auckland on Saturday, on their home ground. Auckland's the pinnacle to knock over. We're hoping to put in a good week, work on those work-ons that came out of last Saturday's game and give Auckland a run for their money."

Bay of Plenty under-19 play their final warm up game tomorrow against Wellington in Rotorua before they go into the Chiefs competition, which has become an important stepping stone for the union's best young talent mostly coming through school 1st XV rugby.

"It's pretty important that we put in a good performance in terms of where we need to be," coach Brendon Webby said.

"This is the team's last pre-season hit out before they go into the Chiefs Seeding round - which is three matches, against Waikato, Harlequins then Counties Manakau - followed by a week-long national tournament in Taupo in September/October, where players will be selected for the New Zealand under-20 squad. Around 10 in the squad are from Rotorua, so the team are looking forward to playing at Whakarewarewa Rugby Club this weekend."

On Sunday, Bay of Plenty play Northland in the opening round of the revamped Roller Mills competition. The traditional week-long tournament has been replaced with a series of one-off games over several weekends, conclude with finals in Tauranga on October 4-5.

Bay of Plenty Roller Mills coach Cliff Honey says it is a new situation for all the teams involved.

"From our point of view, we're still building on our systems, as we usually have that nine weeks' preparation time leading up to our tournament and, as since that time has almost been cut in half, we're not at the level we would be at normally."

BOP REP GAMES

Tomorrow: Bay of Plenty Under-19 v Wellington, Whakarewarewa Rugby Club, Rotorua, 1pm; Auckland Development v Bay of Plenty Development, Western Springs Stadium, Auckland, 2.45pm.

Sunday: Roller Mills Bay of Plenty v Northland, Ngatea Rugby and Sports Club, 12.45pm.