Tough day at the office for Wekas

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

A well-oiled Hawke’s Bay Saracens gave Poverty Bay Wekas “a good eye-opener” heading into their Heartland Championship opener in Gisborne this weekend.

Saracens proved far too strong for the Civil Project Solutions Poverty Bay Wekas — powering to a 78-17 pre-season victory at Tremaine Field in Napier on Saturday.

“It was a tough day at the office for us for sure,” Poverty Bay head coach Miah Nikora said.

“We came up against a really good side and couldn’t match them in speed and accuracy.

“They were dominant and we couldn’t get into the game.”

Saracens were stacked with talent including players with Super Rugby experience.

“They had Solomone Funaki, who played (blindside) for Moana Pasifika this year at lock, and Cooper Flanders, who’s in the New Zealand under-20s at No.8.

“They had a few of the academy boys on the fringes of the Magpies (Hawke’s Bay NPC side) , which made for a good side.”

As it wasn’t a first-class fixture, there were rolling subs which seemed to work better for Saracens, who led 31-5 at the halftime break.

First-five Kelvin Smith put the Wekas on the board when he broke the line to score a try in the 30th minute.

Centre Taine Aupouri added their second try in the 59th and second-five Mitch Purvis found the try line in the 73rd, with fullback Ricardo Patricio converting.

The Bay were outmatched in a lot of areas.

“There was definitely some good learning stuff,” Nikora said. “It showed us the pace we need to strive to be at in terms of speed of the game.

“They were really physical, really clinical at the breakdown area, really efficient in everything they did, and we struggled with the pace of that.

“We need to tidy up and get a bit of clarity around our roles within our systems.

“It’s been a good eye-opener heading into Round 1 that’s for sure.”

The Wekas start the Heartland Championship on Saturday against Buller at the Oval (2.30pm kickoff).

Both teams had three wins and five losses last year. Buller finished ninth on the table (17 points) and Poverty Bay 10th (16pts).

Buller won 48-20 when they met in Round 6 in Westport.

Ngāti Porou East Coast defeated Eastern Bay of Plenty 31-12 in their final warm-up game at Whangaparaoa on Saturday.

The Coast, holders of the Lochore Cup and Bill Osborne Taonga, are away to Wairarapa Bush in their 2023 opener.

Poverty Bay’s Tūranga Tāne squad had a win and two losses at  Te Tini-a-Maui regional tournament in Hastings.

Turanga narrowly lost their first fixture, 14-7, to Te Matau-a-Maui.

They bounced back with intent in a 28-5 win against Horowhenua Kapiti Māori.

They had another strong performance in their last fixture against Manawatu Maori but were narrowly beaten, 20-17.

Te  Matau a Maui of Hawke’s Bay defeated Wairoa 33-15 in the final to claim the Hikaia Amohia Trophy as overall winners.

Poverty Bay under-20s squad lost both their fixtures of the Hurricanes under-20 Development Series in Bulls.

Poverty Bay went down 27-22 to Horowhenua Kapiti on Saturday and 53-0 to Wairarapa Bush on Sunday.