Big two to knock heads in Poverty Bay Premier club rugby Saturday

Fleetfooted OBM winger Jovilisi Ratuvou will be eyeing more five-pointers in his side's Poverty Bay Premier club rugby game against Ngatapa at Patutahi on Saturday. Photo / Paul Rickard

A club with 10 titles will go at it with the local game’s newest champions in week 4 of Poverty Bay Premier club rugby on Saturday.

The Barry Park match between the Shayde Skudder-captained East Coast Farm Vets YMP and Wairoa-based Lee Bros Shield holders Kahu Scaffolding Tapuae, under Paoraian Manuel-Harman, should be heady stuff.

Kick-off in all three Premier fixtures is 2.45pm and each is a potential classic.

The youngest referees’ crew in Poverty Bay Premier history - Joel Pearse, Ruan Ludwig and Jared Pearse - will control the game between Enterprise Cars OBM and Larsawn Ngatapa at Paddy’s Park in Patutahi, where the Carl McFarlane Memorial Cup will be up for grabs.

Kevin Hollis Glass Tūranga Pirates have closest neighbours Earthwork Solutions High School Old Boys as opposition at the Oval, with the whistle in Ben Holt’s hand.

YMP will not be getting carried away with their 91-0 crushing of Pirates last weekend.

They have a modest and down-to-earth coach in Willie Brown and are too smart a unit to lose their shape or focus after such a big win.

No 8 Niko Lauti did a solid job as captain in the absence of hooker Skudder, who will be back in the saddle.

Tapuae veteran front-row forward Wayne Hema and halfback Kyoni Te Amo have an awesome force at their disposal. The influence of this pair was considerable in their unbeaten 2024 campaign and like YMP, they go into Saturday’s game having won all three 2025 matches.

They are not on a tear yet, but are gathering momentum while keeping their house in order. To hold OBM scoreless (31-0) last week, depleted though the visitors were, was proof of their pride in keeping their tryline uncut.

Matt Smith refereed the 2024 final between Tapuae and YMP and will be back again for Saturday’s match.

HSOB head coach Wayne Ensor’s side held off a strong-finishing Ngatapa 26-19 last Friday and he feels his team have a lot to improve upon.

Pivotal to that will be team leaders such as captain and halfback George Halley, scrum anchor Jody Tuhaka and blindside flanker Zane Boyle.

Pirates coach Anthony Kiwara has hard-hitting No 8 Patriah Kaliopasi as the mainstay of a pack and crew who play their rugby with great heart under the direction of first five Henry Kepa.

But as Kiwara would point out, they need to convert what they have worked on at practice into games.

OBM also have an inspirational leadership combination in game-day skipper Braedyn Grant and in-form first five Tawhiri Walsh.

Their bench for Saturday has been boosted for the Ngatapa clash with the late additions of Jovilisi Ratuvou, who scored a superb first-half try versus Pirates in week 2, and mighty all-round forward Juston Allen.

And they are necessary additions.

Ngatapa blindside flanker Hamish Chrisp and massive tighthead prop Atonio Walker-Leawere were two of their best with ball-in-hand against HSOB last weekend, while captain and lock Jack Twigley reigned supreme at the lineout early in a clash that started off as one-way traffic then turned into hair-raising stuff.