Te Puke to contest rescheduled Baywide development rugby final

Levi Rahui on the way to the tryline. Baywide premier club rugby, Te Puke Sports vs Mount Maunganui Sports. 14 August 2021 Bay of Plenty Photo by Stuart Whitaker BTG 19Aug21 -

It's rugby final time - at last.

Four weeks after it was postponed because of lockdown, and it seemed Te Puke Sports development side might not get their chance to lift some end-of-season silverware, it's game on.

Te Puke Sports will take on Tauranga Sports at Murray Salt Stadium on Saturday in the final of the Baywide men's development competition, in a game originally scheduled for August 21.

Moving to alert level 2 meant the game could be rescheduled and players could get back into training. The first task for coach Jason Kahika was assessing players' fitness.

''We had our first training where we wanted to test fitness, see where the boys were at and it was very obvious they have been working right through, so we're happy - it was a big effort from the boys and they did it.''

A training run last Saturday highlighted some rustiness.

''That's to be expected, but it didn't take long [to get past it].

''We had some games on Saturday. What we've been developing all year is, we want them to play what's in front of them and identify the weak points in the opposition and target those weak points, so that's what we've been working on.

''When they were playing against each other, they weren't afraid to get back into the physical side, and we were trying to restrain them from the physicality a little bit.''

After a hard-fought win over Mount Maunganui in the semi final - a game that went to extra time before Te Puke ran out 31-18 winners - there were some injured players who might not have made the final had it been on its original date.

''They've all recovered, although Tauranga will be in the same boat,'' says Jason.

He says he believes everything will come down to which team is better prepared and which team wants the win the most.

''We're back on track and we didn't have to do much [to keep motivation up], basically gentle reminders, and we used our network groups and reminded them that the team that comes through is the team that will maintain the fitness standard they are at.''

Saturday's training session finished with a barbecue ''to just get the boys together to bond and a reminder about why we're here".

"We're here for each other and that's what's got us through the past month.

''We are all excited to get there and it's like anything, we just hope we put on a good show.''

With the region still under alert level 2 restrictions, the public will not be allowed into the grounds to watch the game.

The restrictions also mean the players will miss out on something they were eagerly anticipating.

''The only sad thing is, normally we get a roast, so the boys won't get to have their roast - that's the whole reason why we play,'' laughs Jason.

''We wanted to have a grand final roast and the chef said he would make us Yorkshire puddings and everything. We work really hard for it and won't even get it.''