Wekas v Buller live on TV

Getting his start: Poverty Bay wing Ricardo Patricio will get a lot of game time tomorrow against Buller as he will be in jersey 14. Dynamic is what head coach Miah Nikora is looking for and Patricio will provide that through his kicking game for the backs. Poverty Bay are travelling to Westport to take on Buller in Week 3 of the Heartland Championship competition which will be live on SkyTV and free-to-air Prime with kick-off at 12.05pm. Picture by Paul Rickard

History means little as Poverty Bay Wekas head to Westport to take on a wounded Buller in a Week 3 Heartland Championship rugby match to be televised live.

For the first time in Heartland history, this season's championship features one game a week aired live on Sky TV and Prime.

This week is the Buller-Poverty Bay game, kicking off at 12.05pm tomorrow.

The sides last met in the 2021 with Civil Project Solutions Poverty Bay handing Buller a 76-14 thrashing in Gisborne.

The southerners go into tomorrow on the back of a 71-10 loss to North Otago after a 34-29 win over Mid Canterbury in week 1.

Poverty Bay head coach Miah Nikora is not reading too much into those big losses.

“We know that Buller are always strong at home,” Nikora said. “They have a couple of key guys — their hooker and their No.8 — who are really strong ball carriers and we saw that in their opening two games.”

The Bay's starting 15 for tomorrow features one change in the forwards from last week's 30-26 win over Wairarapa Bush.

Tulsa Kaui comes into the 15 at loosehead prop in place of Toru Noanoa, who will look to make an impact off the bench.

In the backs, Ricardo Patricio will start on the right wing in place of Tione Hubbard.

“Tione is unavailable due to work commitments,” Nikora said.

“Ricardo coming into the starting 15 is a good opportunity for him and provides us with another kicking option.

“He has a big boot and is really beneficial for our game this week as we are expecting a bit of rain down there, so having that as part of our backline will give us a little more in our tool box if we need it.”

Of note on the reserves bench is former Gisborne Boys' High first 15 captain and prop Jordan McFarlane.

The Wekas showed resilience last weekend.

They attacked from the ruck with powerful forward runs and closed down the opposition attacking options

A focal point of their tactics has been the breakdown and how to control it.

The Wekas forwards are menacing around the ruck and force the opposition to move the ball on quickly or face the ball being turned over.

“What we are working on from our game against Wairarapa Bush is to get a bit quicker to the breakdowns and clean-out area,” Nikora said.

“Our ball got slowed down a bit on attack by them (the Bush). This week we are going to try to work on clean outs and breakdown areas.”

The Wekas are are building momentum and will look to continue that tomorrow.

However, they face a home side who will be hungry to rebound from last weekend and get more points on the board.

Buller (5pts) are one point ahead of the Wekas (4pts) on the table topped by North Otago (10) on points differential from Whanganui.