Their teams are dominating the club scene and now Waikato's rep side have flexed their muscles as well, thrashing Coastline (Western Bay of Plenty) 32-0 in the teams' first representative outing of the season in Hamilton on Saturday.
An undermanned Coastline, who only a year ago were edged 10-6 by Waikato,were outscored six-tries-to-zip in a display coach Paul Pou described as "an embarrassing kicking", with Coastline's backs carved to pieces
The match was the first leg of the selection process for the WaiCoa Bays Stallions but only a handful of the Coastline team did their prospects any good.
Player withdrawals left Pou having to put himself on the interchange bench and play at fullback.
"Our build-up wasn't the best, we lacked quality backs, and we got a pasting, although our forwards stood up like I knew they would, led by our little force Mikaere October, with Brendon Anderson and Matt Mason also having strong games."
Pou said Coastline officials had assured him their communication would be clearer in future, with several of the players selected unaware there was even a game on Easter weekend until it was too late.
Coastline have a long wait for redemption - their final Waicoa Bays rep outing is against Bay of Plenty in Tauranga in July.
