Rugby: Organised Sharks do it tough

Dargaville's Western Sharks premier rugby team continued their winning start to the season with a hard fought 17-10 victory over the Otamatea Hawks.

In hot and dusty conditions, Otamatea showed they are no longer a pushover as they challenged the Sharks right to the end.

Otamatea coach Paul Mant said Saturday's loss was disappointing after such a positive start to the 2013 season.

"[The match] probably went a little less to be plan than we expected," Mant said. "I guess we got a step ahead of ourselves, not putting enough numbers into the ruck when we were getting some good go-forward."

He said his side could not make the most of their line-breaks but credited an organised Western Sharks outfit for making turnovers when it mattered.

Mant added that the Sharks really turned up the heat in the physical match-up and attacked channels close to the ruck.

Matt Matich showed his off-season stint with the Northland and Auckland sevens teams had helped his game as he was a menace on defence, forcing Otamatea to commit numbers to the ruck to protect their ball.

Mant noted the influence of young 18-year-old second-five Taisyn Williams, who scored Otamatea's only try in his first premier grade match, and halfback Wheriko Tawhiri, also 18.

"[Tawhiri] had a strong game and linked well with our 10, John-Luke Whitehead.

"Shane Neville was another who played well. He played through injury and still caught the eyes of [Northland assistant coach] Derren Witcombe."

The Sharks and Otamatea match was the last game of the weekend after the remaining teams played on Thursday due to the Easter break.