Rugby: Te Puke plan to kick on past rough start

Jonty Wood, Mount Maunganui Sports halfback, makes a break in round three against Tauranga Sports. Photo / Andrew Warner

Round four of the Western Bay of Plenty Premier and Development grades kicks off tomorrow after a break over Easter, with Central and Eastern Bay into round three of their competitions.

The usually ultra-competitive Te Puke Sports have lost all three games played so far and are not happy. Tomorrow they cross town to take on Greerton Marist, who have won twice.

Te Puke coach Craig Jeffries admits it has been a rough start.

"So the last two weeks leading into the Greerton game we have gone right back to the basics and are working hard to break this trend," Jeffries said. "Greerton are going to be a difficult team and we have to get our game going smartly in order to start getting better results.

"We have had Pirates legend and current Turbos assistant coach, Jeremy Cotter, running his astute eye over video ... so we are hoping for a better showing in the coming weeks."

Greerton Marist coach Kevin Lee, who moved from Rotoiti this season, says they are looking forward to competing against Te Puke and see it as another pre-season game and step towards the Baywide round.

"Te Puke has been one of the benchmark clubs in recent years so it will be interesting to see how we measure up against them at this stage in both teams' preparation," Lee said.

Winless Rangataua take on leaders Tauranga Sports at the Domain and Te Puna host Mount Maunganui at Maramataga Park.

Before the big boys kick off tomorrow, a unique new competition starts tonight. The inaugural Colts/Under-85kg 10-a-side competition starts at Gordon Spratt Reserve in Papamoa, with grounds at Greerton Marist, Mount Maunganui Sports and Arataki not available.

The teams entered are Mount Maunganui 1, Mount Maunganui 2, Arataki, Te Puna, Greerton Marist and Eastern Districts. They play two games each per night, with the first game starting at 5.45pm.

Premier/Development draws, tomorrow
Premier, 2.45pm; Development, 1pm.
Greerton Marist v Te Puke Sports at Greerton Marist; Tauranga Sports v Rangataua Sports at The Domain; Te Puna v Mt Maunganui at Maramatanga Park.
Standings: Tauranga Sports 13, Te Puna 9, Greerton Marist 9, Mount Maunganui 8, Te Puke Sports 3, Rangataua 0.

Colts/Under-85kg 10-aside draw, tonight:
Gordon Spratt Reserve, Papamoa
5.45pm: Mount Maunganui 1 v Arataki; 6.10pm: Te Puna v Greerton; 6.35pm: Mount Maunganui 2 v Eastern Districts; 7pm: Mount Maunganui 1 v Te Puna;
7.25pm: Arataki v Mount Maunganui 2; 7.50pm: Greerton Marist v Eastern Districts.

All games will be played at Gordon Spratt No3 because of grounds at Greerton Marist, Mount Maunganui Sports and Arataki not being available.