are the only remaining Rotorua club in the Baywide premier rugby competition and after suffering a loss to Greerton in the opening of the championship round on home ground, they are forced to travel to
Rugby: Greerton secure winning start to Baywide championship round
This weekend Greerton face Rangiuru and while they'd like to take out the competition, it's not their focus at this point.
"The way we're looking at it as a group is there's no more important game than the game we've got on Saturday. We're not thinking ahead of ourselves at all, we've got Rangiuru [this] week and that'll be a tough game and basically, you know, from there you've just got to throw all your eggs into the basket.
"It's only seven games and it's going to go really, really quickly."
For Whakarewarewa, head coach Boxer Smith says even though the home team put out tough scrums and strong lineouts, players' heads were not in the game.
"Full credit to Greerton, they really defended well and I think at the end of the day they just wanted it a little bit more, a little bit more hungry," Smith says.
"I think they're going to be a bit of a dark horse to be honest for this second championship round, I think they could make the top four," he says.
The home side were down about five players due to other commitments and some "niggly" injuries but Smith says that is no excuse for the weekend's performance. Low energy levels and failure to capitalise on their strengths were the main weaknesses, he says.
"Early days but at the start of this champion round you need to build momentum and take the wins."
This weekend, Whakarewarewa head to Murray Salt Stadium to take on Te Puke, who suffered their first loss of the season to Tauranga Sports on Saturday, going down 34-10.
Smith says going into week two they hope to have a few players back in action.
"It's going to be hard for us now, we've got to travel to Tauranga and try and hunt a win.
"We sort of know we're not just representing our club at end, we're trying to represent the whole central Bay, which is Rotorua.
"There's a lot of responsibility on our boys to do that. They feel the pride in Rotorua rugby and [are] trying to keep us on the map."
In other premier matches, Rangiuru beat Rangataua 17-13 and Te Puna scored a comfortable 47-14 win over Mount Maunganui.
Farmlands Co-operative Baywide Club Rugby Results:
Premier 1:
Whakarewarewa 6 vs Greerton Marist 17.
Rangataua 13 vs Rangiuru 17.
Te Puna 47 vs Mount Maunganui 14.
Tauranga Sports 34 vs Te Puke Sports 10.
Premier 1 Development:
Whakarewarewa 29 vs Greerton Marist 15.
Rangataua 83 vs Rangiuru 5.
Te Puna 109 vs Mount Maunganui 0.
Tauranga Sports 19 vs Te Puke Sports 19.
Premier 2:
Marist St Michael's 33 vs Ōpōtiki 27.
Ruatoki 23 vs Arataki 24.
Kahukura 19 vs Te Teko 58.
Waikite 27 vs Ngongotahā 14.
Premier 2 Development:
Marist St Michael's 15 vs Ōpōtiki 19.
Ruatoki 42 vs Arataki 24.
Kahukura vs Te Teko (win by default).
Waikite 20 vs Ngongotahā 30.
Division 1:
Murupara 19 vs Rotoiti 12.
Paroa 26 vs Papamoa 12.
Whakatane Marist 5 vs Poroporo 8.
Judea 36 vs Reporoa 24.
Division 2:
Edgecumbe (win by default) vs Eastern Pirates.
Eastern Districts vs Matata (score not received).
Galatea/Waiohau 12 vs Katikati 24
Waimana - Bye
Senior Reserves:
Matakana Island 58 vs Greerton Marist 0.
Tauranga Sports vs Te Puna (score not received).
Ngongotaha - Bye.