League: Moerewa to play sensible in semi

Moerewa Tigers will try to curb their natural expansive game and play sensible rugby league in their sudden-death semifinal against the Northern Wairoa Bulls tomorrow.

Coach Tom Tauranga said the heavy conditions would make handling difficult at Takahiwai and they didn't want to repeat their error-ridden performance from last week's defeat by the Hikurangi Stags.

"Retaining the ball will be our main aim this week after our completion rate was down around 50 per cent against the Stags," he said.

"That's just not good enough to win games, we gave the Stags too much possession and spent too much time defending and we don't want to do that again this week."

Tauranga expected a "ripper" of a match and said the Bulls were impressive in their win over Hokianga on Saturday.

"They put in a no-nonsense performance and played good, basic football and didn't make many mistakes and we expect them to play the same against us," he said.

The Tigers will aim to match that and try to work the big Bulls forwards around the park.

"Once we get going we'll look to work the ball along the flanks and keep their big boys moving around and try and tire them out," Tauranga said.

It's never difficult to motivate the Tigers but this week should prove even easier with the team wanting to prove they deserved their place in the final. They had to win an appeal to the NZRL to make the playoffs after they originally missed out when docked two points for fielding an ineligible player.

"We've got a lot to prove in terms of what happened but more than that we want another shot at the Stags after we let ourselves down last week," Tauranga said.

The match starts at Takahiwai at 2.30pm, the winner playing Hikurangi the next week.