Committed to the cause

LIGHT ON HIS FEET: Morgan Wirepa Jr, of Tokararangi, steps through the Uawa defence in the 2018 East Coast club rugby final. Picture by Paul Rickard

It's no wonder they're excited.

Well might Tokararangi supporters anticipate a great season — they have three committed men to lead their sports club onwards and upwards.

Israel Brown has taken over from Morgan Wirepa Jr as head coach (though, as with his predecessor, he will keep his rugby boots close at hand). Both captained the side in their time, the former at halfback, the latter at No.8.

Tokararangi will be led this year by another eight man, the dynamic Hone Haerewa — Ngati Porou East Coast skipper in 2019 — and his co-captain, loosehead prop Chris Bristowe.

“We should be reasonably fit — the proof will be in the pudding on that — but definitely everyone's feet are itching to get out and play,” said Haerewa, a Heartland 15 representative last season.

“We trained for three months before the lockdown and we're all putting our best foot foward.”

Decade Akapita will manage a side with the experience and depth to hold their own with anyone in the newly named Enterprise Motors Ngati Porou East Coast club competition.

Tina Waitoa and Lee Brothers Shield-winning former High School Old Boys captain Jody Tuhaka are both quality rakes. Haerewa provides second-row cover for any spot from 6 to 8, with Dyllyn Evans, Alec Poi and Hori Bartlett as other options in the loose.

In 6ft 6in lock Kyah Hollis, they have an athlete, leaper and ball-winner at the lineout.

Providing a vital link on-field will be halfback Te Aho Haenga, with Teina Potae, Pamona Samupo and Piripi Reid-Abraham as possibilities outside him.

In wingers Kiwi Haig and Mohi Bartlett and fullback Whakarae Henare, Tokararangi have men who know how to finish.

Henare has 29 Ngati Porou East Coast caps and he played one game for Poverty Bay in 2014.

Tokararangi finished last season in fifth place. Ruatoria City were sixth and Tokomaru Bay United came seventh.

Te Araroa Domain, stronghold of Tokararangi, remains as harsh a rugby landscape for visiting teams in 2020 as it has always been.

Hicks Bay manager Graeme Summersby even now speaks in hushed tones of “Horoera Corner” — the top right corner as seen from the grandstand.

With all at stake, Tokararangi have turned up the heat on opponents in that feared terrain.

“They've out-thought, outmuscled and outplayed countless teams there,” Summersby said.

Campbell Dewes, Summersby's successor as NPEC chairman and a former Tokararangi prop, explained.

“If you're defending that corner, the sun sets in your eyes. The prevailing wind is a nor'wester, into your eyes. And after rain, that patch can be a big bog. Mud is the ultimate leveller.”