Poverty Bay face tough Heartland Championship away game

Poverty Bay winger Josaia Bosaka flies down the touchline against Buller in a Heartland Championship game in Gisborne last weekend. The Bay face North Otago in Oamaru on Saturday. Photo / Angus Bodle

You’re only as good as your last performance.

That sporting mantra is one Poverty Bay Weka fans will bear in mind heading into Saturday’s Heartland Championship clash with North Otago in Oamaru.

The Weka go into the week 5 match on the back of wins home and away - and three wins from four games - to be placed fourth on the 12-team table.

That form is not lost on their North Otago “Old Golds” opponents.

The Bay, who have won eight of their 28 encounters with the Old Golds since their first meeting in 1986, beat them 40-35 in the 2023 Lochore Cup semifinals at North Otago’s home Whitestone Contracting Centennial Park.

The Bay came back from 25-7 down to claim their first win over the Southerners since an 18-10 triumph at Gisborne’s Rugby Park in 2009.

The semi win was all the more remarkable because the Old Golds had won a western-style shoot-out 50-43 between the sides in round robin play three weeks before.

Weka head coach Paoraian Manuel-Harman has made four changes to the side who had a bonus-point 38-3 win over Buller in Gisborne last Saturday.

Iose Brown is in at tighthead prop for Tapuae club teammate George Ormond; Harawira Kahukura is in at lock for Max Briant; Mahia’s Lennox Shanks (who came off the reserves bench for second-five eighths Anthony Karauria last week) will take regular captain and openside flanker Keanu Taumata’s spot; and Auckland loan player Henry Saker replaces Silas Brown as starting halfback.

Joining hooker Saigeon Carmichael on the bench will be props Sam Hudson and co-captain Lance Dickson, who is set to play his 30th (blazer) game, for Brown and Ratu Nairoroi jnr.

Replacing Jokatama Cewa, Atonio Vukicicakaudrove, Shanks and Quaydon Chaffey-Kora are Sio Palusa, ex-Bay skipper James Grogan, debutant Liam Beattie and Te-Reimana Gray. Braedyn Grant is the sole back reserve to have been retained from last week.

Manuel-Harman wants his men to be aggressive and dominant in defence, and lethal and accurate on attack.

Elements of those four attributes were in evidence against Buller, with the forward pack scrummaging powerfully, notably in the second half.

North Otago, eighth on the table on 11 points, have a sizeable tight five and are well led by scrum anchor Hayden Tisdall and fetcher Savenaca Rabaka.

They have a sensational inside back combination in Japanese pair Kippei Taninaka and Kenta Iemura.

The Old Golds, who are sitting eighth on 11 points, lost 39-21 to Whanganui in week 1, then caught Wairarapa-Bush on their “day of days” in week 2 - the Bush producing 42 unanswered points in the second half to shock their hosts 56-29.

It speaks to the character of the Luke Herden-coached North Otago that they recovered from that rugged start with a 48-19 win on the road against Ngāti Porou East Coast and a 45-36 result at home over reigning Meads Cup champions Thames Valley.

“Poverty Bay have won three from four, so they’re obviously not going to be easy to beat,” Herden said. “We’ll try to take them on up front and see what eventuates from that.”

The return of Dickson (co-captain with hooker Ngahiwi Manuel), albeit from the reserves, is great news for Poverty Bay. The hard-working, no-nonsense front-rower tweaked his left hamstring on the eve of the season-opener here.

He and Grogan bring excellent knowledge to the ranks.

The forecast is for rain and a strong northwesterly giving way to a gale-force southwesterly in the afternoon.

Poverty Bay Weka, 1-15: Toma Laumalili, Ngahiwi Manuel (cc), Iose Brown, Harawira Kahukura, Leka Palusa, Niko Lauti, Lennox Shanks, Uini Fetalaiga, Henry Saker, Tayler Adams, Matthew Proffit, Anthony Karauria (vc), Cohen Loffler, Josaia Bosaka, Kyoni Te Amo-Poki.

Res: Saigeon Carmichael, Sam Hudson, Lance Dickson (cc), Sio Palusa, James Grogan, Liam Beattie, Te-Reimana Gray, Braedyn Grant.