Tūranga out to make it two for two tomorrow

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

Fresh from their victorious start to the inaugural North Island Heartland women’s rugby competition, Tūranga Wahine intend to make it successive wins in Gisborne tomorrow.

Week 2 of the history-making championship will see Tūranga Wāhine and King Country take centre-stage at the Oval (kick-off 2.30pm).

It will follow the curtain-raiser at 12.30pm between Poverty Bay Under-18 girls and their Valley counterparts.

Another Bay-Valley duel will be held at the Rectory between their regions’ u18 boys’ teams at 10.30am.

Tūranga will be out to avenge their defeat to King Country in a friendly match in Te Kuiti last year.

The home side handled the wet conditions better to win 39-26, and Tūranga are hoping for weather more conducive to running rugby tomorrow.

Tūranga assistant coach Aporo Ruru said as long as the side stuck to the game plan the way they did in their impressive competition-opening win over Thames Valley last week, they should do well.

But they are aware that King Country, who lost narrowly to Whanganui in their opener, are likely to provide a much tougher challenge.

“This weekend will be a hard one,” Ruru said.

“King Country beat us last year but for us we just need to stick to our game and trust in the systems in place.

“Patience was our main focus on Saturday and it paid off and I’d say it would be the same for this weekend.

“Stick to playing our game at our pace and we will get the result.”

Ruru is head coach of the u18 girls squad while Luke Bradley is coaching the boys.