Elusive Premier victory in Pirates’ sights

Pirates flanker Moui Paongo is confronted by OBM front-rower Lance Dickson in a Poverty Bay Premier club rugby game. Paongo's team are yet to win a game in the 2023 season but will be targeting their clash with High School Old Boys at the Oval tomorrow as a "W". Picture by Paul Rickard

The Poverty Bay Premier club rugby top four are all but sorted but there is still plenty to play for as the competition moves towards the business end of the 2023 season.

Round 2 resumes tomorrow after a two-week hiatus during which the top club players were involved in the annual King’s Birthday Weekend Derby between Poverty Bay and Ngāti Porou East Coast — a 29-17 win to the Bay.

East Coast Farm Vets YMP have firmly established themselves at the top of the pecking order going into their Civil Project Solutions Week 8 clash against Larsawn Ngatapa at Barry Park.

They have a perfect record of seven bonus-point victories although are only five points ahead of Enterprise Cars OBM (30), with GT Shearing Waikohu third on 21, Ngatapa fourth on 15, Earthwork Solutions HSOB fifth on six and Kevin Hollis Glass Pirates sixth on two.

The Oval is hosting a double-header tomorrow — HSOB v Pirates; OBM v Waikohu.

The blue and whites are looking for their second win of the season while Pirates are hungry to post their first victory.

Round 1 saw HSOB narrowly beat Pirates 20-14 — a score that accurately reflected a bruising contest that ended in plenty of sore bodies.

Pirates, while winless, have taken the Premier challenge in their stride, building and improving with each game.

Most, if not all, of their squad made the move from Senior 1 last year to the top flight and have shown they can foot it there with some impressive performances.

This is their best chance of breaking their duck although HSOB, who have had their own challenges numbers-wise,  will be determined to double their “W” tally.

The OBM-Waikohu game should also be tight. When the sides met in Round 1, OBM inflicted a second defeat on the men from Te Karaka — 36-22 — and have cemented their second spot on the table with a six-win/one-loss record, a reflection of the work they have put in over the season.

Fresh from marking Willis Tamatea’s 200th Premier appearance, YMP have two more milestones to acknowledge tomorrow.

Prop Nehe Papuni and flanker Seth Lundon will be playing their 50th Premier matches in the black and white jersey. and the way YMP are tracking, they are favourites to celebrate that with a win.

Ngatapa are a young team building in confidence, and with several of their team putting in strong performances in  Poverty Bay’s win they will be out to improve significantly on their 49-10 Round 1 loss to the defending champions.

All Premier games  kick off at 2.45pm.

The Senior 1 competition also resumes tomorrow and the feature match is likely to be second-placed Charteris Choppers Wairoa Athletic up against third-placed Nuhaka in Wairoa at 1.30pm.

Kick-off times have changed for two other fixtures although the venues are the same.  Uawa v Horouta is at 2pm and OBM v competition leaders Tapuae is at 1pm.