“Both provinces are going through lean times — us more so then the Bay — but let’s not forget we have been at the bottom before and risen.
“During Joe McClutchie’s era, the Coast won back-to-back third division titles (1999 and 2000), won promotion to the second division and were beaten finalists in 2001. They went on to keep their place in the second division during the mid-2000s.
“The team enjoyed great success and one of the reasons was the culture. Poverty Bay have their culture and we have ours.
“Wayne (Ensor, Coast co-coach) and I spoke recently to some Marlborough stalwarts and they said their amalgamation with Nelson had come at a severe cost to the Marlborough union and players.
“They told us they have separate competition, then a composite one in which their teams get badly beaten.
“We have players who, like Poverty Bay, don’t want to play for any other team than their own province and I applaud that loyalty.
“We have players who would make an East Coast-Poverty Bay team but they’re proud to wear the Sky Blue jersey.
“One of our most committed players is halfback Sam Parkes. He would walk into any number of other Heartland teams but loves playing for the Coast. He’s not alone.
“Even after Saturday’s loss, when we were without five front-line players — TK Moeke, Perrin Manuel, Rikki Kernohan, Hakarangi Tichborne and Morrison Siliko — and the boys were gutted, there is still a strong bond between them.
“As Wayne and I said, it’s only seven days before the chance of redemption. If we beat Poverty Bay on Saturday, that 100-point loss will be forgotten.
“We’re hoping to have all five available and if we do, there will be some difficult decisions to make.
“We brought in Epeli Lotawa (winger for the South Canterbury game) and he and Jayden Milner (fullback) were our two best players.”
A win to the Coast would end their four-year Heartland victory drought and end Poverty Bay’s hopes of a top-four play-off spot.
It would also leave the Bay facing an uphill battle to secure a Lochore Cup (fifth-to-eighth) semifinal place.
“It’s a big game this week for both teams,” Para said. “Poverty Bay are favourites but hopefully we can get a good crowd at the park and the boys give them something to celebrate.”
Over the years, there has been talk of the unions combining,
But in 1998, when the idea was once again floated, then Ngati Porou East Coast team manager Anthony Nelson said: “It’s like land; you never give it away. Once you do, you lose it forever”.
As an aside, McClutchie didn’t do video analysis.
His tactics were simple forward domination. But there was more to the Coast than just a magnificent eight.
McClutchie brought in trainer Stew Wylds, who made the Coast one of the fittest sides in the competition, leaving the coach to focus on improving the skills of his players or as he put it — “controlling what we can, not what we can’t”.
