Horowhenua-Kapiti rugby coach Peter Kemp has his feet firmly planted on the ground, leading into his team's NPC third division match with Wairarapa-Bush at Memorial Park, Masterton, on Saturday.
Kemp was pleased Horowhenua-Kapiti kicked off their 2005 campaign with a 23-21 victory over King Country at Levin, but he was not
overly enthused at the standard of their performance.
"Honestly it was a pretty ordinary game," he said yesterday. "There were a lot of mistakes made by both teams, and neither of us will progress very far if that's the sort of rugby we're going to play all season."
The scratchy start did not altogether surprise Kemp, as Horowhenua-Kapiti's build-up had included just the two warm-up games, and he was aware that some combinations, especially in the backline, were going to take time to develop.
"We just have to accept that it could take another two or three games before our backs are firing on all cylinders," he said. "There are some new faces there, and they haven't had a lot of time together to really suss things out."
It's a different story in the forwards though. Seven of them were actually part of the Horowhenua-Kapiti squad which made the third division final under Kemp in 2002, and it was that experience which laid the foundations for last weekend's win.
"We were able to dominate the set pieces, and at the end of the day that was probably the difference between the two sides," he said. "We got a better quality of possession from the lineouts and scrums and that gave us the edge."
That being the case, it's hardly surprising that Kemp is looking to his forwards to again pave the way for a win again this weekend.
"Right now that's where our strength lies, so obviously we'll be expecting them to lead the way," he said.
Kemp isn't under-rating Wairarapa-Bush though, saying that their shock loss to Buller on Saturday was likely to have a positive, rather than negative, effect on the home side.
"They will want to bounce back quickly, and we know how dangerous teams can be when they have their backs to the wall. It's going to be a tough battle, nothing is surer than that," he said.
