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Home / Gisborne Herald / Sport

Making history

Gisborne Herald
18 Mar, 2023 04:28 AMQuick Read

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Waikohu skipper Geoff Pari has a key role to play in tomorrow's semifinal.

Waikohu skipper Geoff Pari has a key role to play in tomorrow's semifinal.

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RUGBY

WAIKOHU will be chasing back-to-back Lee Bros Shield final appearances while OBM will be desperate to make their first final since 2004 . . . they meet in a semifinal at Rugby Park tomorrow (kick-off 3pm).

GT Shearing Waikohu lost last year’s final to High School Old Boys and will have 13 of the 22 from that match available, as they bid to win the coveted Shield for the first time.

But skipper and hooker Geoff Pari, like his coach Jason Tuapawa, is not looking beyond tomorrow’s clash with Enterprise Cars OBM.

“Our focus all season has been one game at a time,” said Pari, who was vice-captain last year.

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“That loss hurt and it would be great for the club and Te Karaka if we did win it . . . but let’s get there (to the final) first before we start talking about winning the Shield.

“We played OBM last week and even though we won, we’re taking nothing for granted.”

Tuapawa echoed his captain’s comments.

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“We believe we can win this weekend but OBM will have the same belief . . . we’re not getting carried away,” Tuapawa said.

“We had a good training session this week, probably the best we’ve had all season, and the boys are raring to go.

“Things fell our way last week and OBM had some key players missing. That will change how they play this weekend.”

Tuapawa has added Poverty Bay’s Tawhao Stewart (midfield back) Hamuera Baker (halfback) and Sandy Hohipa-Campbell (prop) to the squad who beat OBM 45-14 last week.

“I won’t be making many changes to last week’s starting line-up, just a couple of tweaks.”

OBM have history on their side — five successive Shield victories from 2000 to 2004 — but player-coach Tom Solomon wants his team to carve their own niche.

“You look around the clubroom and the history is there. I want these players to create their own history, make memories and know what it’s like to win a grand final.

“Waikohu are favourites. They’ve set the bar high this season and are a good all-round team. But we’ll go into the game believing we can win, and one thing I can guarantee is we won’t be leaving anything in the tank.

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“Our build-up started straight after last week’s game when the players were left in no doubt what is expected of them this weekend.”

Solomon, Ngahiwi Manuel, Callum McDonald and captain Jake Holmes missed last week’s loss but all are expected to start tomorrow.

Second-half replacements hooker Rikki Terekia and prop Maumau Kaitara made a big impact and might have forced their way into the run-on side.

Add brothers Jody and Juston Allen, Lance Dickson, Jacob Cook and Evan Bryant, and OBM have a forward pack who will have a big say in the outcome.

The recent return of halfback Willy Grogan is a huge boost.

Grogan’s passing allows his first five-eighth to stand further out, making it harder for opposition loosies to get to him. Grogan, though, is more than a good distributor.

He is like an extra loose forward, who is fearless on defence.

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