Shock upset OBM’s mission

LEADER ON AND OFF THE FIELD: Waikohu captain Geoff Pari is getting back to 100 percent fitness after a shoulder injury put him out of action. Top-of-the-table Waikohu face OBM tomorrow at Te Karaka. Picture by Paul Rickard

RUGBY

It would take a series of upsets for the points table to change in the last Saturday of the regular season of the Poverty Bay premier club rugby competition.

But in these strange times it seems nothing is impossible, including the potential scenarios in the battle for the Civil Project Solutions Lee Bros Shield premier title.

The top four are all but sealed, with GT Shearing Waikohu leading on 40 points from East Coast Farm Vets YMP (36),Larsawn Ngatapa (30) and Contract Consultants High School Old Boys (18).

Enterprise Cars OBM are fifth — five points behind Contract Consultants HSOB — and mathematically have a chance of snatching the fourth spot. But they would need a bonus point win over Waikohu tomorrow and for HSOB to lose to Pirates without a bonus point.

Waikohu’s place is also not cut and dried. A shock loss to OBM would open the door for YMP to snatch the top spot with a bonus-point win over Ngatapa.

Considering the form of the teams as they enter the final games of round 2, it would be an unlikely event for the scenarios to play out but it would be remiss not to note the possibility.

OBM face a huge ask against Waikohu at Te Karaka tomorrow.

Waikohu are in excellent form, having lost only one game this season.

They also have captain and hooker Geoff Pari getting back to 100 percent fitness from a shoulder injury.

The Waikohu lineout struggled without Pari and his leadership has proved instrumental to the team’s wider development and growth.

OBM coach Trevor Crosby said his team were going to give it “110 percent for Lance Dickson”, who is playing his 100th game for the club (see back page story).

“We need big games from the whole squad. We have the ability.”

Ngatapa and YMP meet at Barry Park tomorrow in what is likely to be a dress rehearsal for the 2v3 knockout the following week.

Ngatapa coach Stephen Hickey said they would be fielding their best possible team and he was excited about the game.

“They’ve (YMP) been playing some pretty good rugby. It will be pretty physical.”

YMP coach Brian Leach is expecting a strong Ngatapa side, who “always come at you with a never-say-die attitude”.

YMP are also looking to avenge their first-round loss to Ngatapa.

“We owe them one,” said Leach. “Last time we had five of our starters missing. We’ll have a fine track out there and will look to use our fitness.”

Kevin Hollis Glass Pirates are out to finish their season strongly against HSOB at the Oval.

But it is will be a tough ask for Pirates to hold out the blue and whites, who have steadily improved over the season.

HSOB coach Danny Boyle said they would be treating the game as a lead-up for the semifinals, and a strong performance would cement themselves in the playoffs picture.

“But Pirates have been improving and they have plenty of pride.”

HSOB will be without captain Tamanui Hill, who is unavailable this weekend.

Pirates coach Willie Waitoa said his team would be turning up to play. They were hungry to produce a good performance and were already looking to next year.

They have, however, been struggling with numbers.

Last week they had only 19 players on their team sheet and with a handful of injuries from their loss to YMP, they could struggle to field a full squad for the game.

Spectators are still not permitted at the premier fixtures, all of which kick off at 2.45pm.