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Home / Gisborne Herald / Sport

Heartland subsitute

Gisborne Herald
18 Mar, 2023 02:18 AMQuick Read

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Match winner: Prop Semisi Akana scores the final and match-winning try for Poverty Bay in their clash with Ngati Porou East Coast at Rugby Park last October. Poverty Bay won this match 24-20 but the Coast will have two opportunities to turn the tables on their rivals this season, with games on September 19 and 26. File picture by Paul Rickard

Match winner: Prop Semisi Akana scores the final and match-winning try for Poverty Bay in their clash with Ngati Porou East Coast at Rugby Park last October. Poverty Bay won this match 24-20 but the Coast will have two opportunities to turn the tables on their rivals this season, with games on September 19 and 26. File picture by Paul Rickard

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Now we know.

Although the Ngati Porou East Coast Sky Blues won't get to play in the Heartland Championship this season, they will get the next best thing — two games against Poverty Bay.

The Bay will defend the Anaru “Skip” Paenga Memorial Trophy against the Coast at Rugby Park in Gisborne on Saturday, September 19, and take the PJ Sayers Cup on the road to Whakarua Park in Ruatoria the following Saturday, September 26.

The Enterprise Cars East Coast club competition kicks off in two weeks.

Tokomaru Bay United will host defending champions Uawa at Hatea-a-Rangi Domain. Last year's finalists, Tihirau Victory Club, are at home (Te Kura Mana Maori o Whangaparaoa, Cape Runaway) to Waiapu. Hicks Bay, placed fourth last season, will travel to Te Araroa Domain as guests of the fearsome Tokararangi.

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All games kick off at 2.30pm.

“Our communities are humming with rugby again, thanks to the efforts of our Ngati Porou East Coast staff and passionate volunteers,” said NPEC chief executive Cushla Tangaere-Manuel.

“The union is delighted that we, working with our clubs, will be able to deliver a women's competition and that our head coach Hosea Gear will get a chance to field a team in our away and home matches.”

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Fourteen-test All Black No.1079 Gear is, at 36, the youngest head coach in the Coast's history.

“Just from talking to players I know they're stoked that we'll actually get to play as a squad this year, so that's exciting for us,” Gear said.

“We're looking forward to getting the boys together and having fun, especially after everything that's happened.

“The boys are rightly focused on club rugby at this stage but I think that the closer it gets to the end of the season, the more they'll switch their attention to those games in September.”

Seven weeks of round-robin play will be held this year, each of the seven teams having a bye, before the 1 v 4 and 2 v 3 semifinals and final for the Rangiora Keelan Memorial Shield on August 29.

The four-week NPEC women's competition will run from September 5 to September 26, with the Junior Advisory Board season running from July 25 to August 22 and the Nati 7s being held at Whakarua Park on October 17.

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