Mixed fortunes for Rotorua's premier rugby teams at weekend

Some lessons were learned in Rotorua premier rugby games at the weekend. Photo / File

Rotorua's three premier rugby teams experienced mixed fortunes at the weekend.

Whakarewarewa bounced back from last weekend's loss to Mount Maunganui with a convincing 41-19 win over Arataki, while Rotoiti and Ngongotaha suffered heavy losses to Tauranga Sports and Te Puke Sports respectively.

Whakarewarewa head coach Boxer Smith said that despite the scoreline it was a hard-fought win over Arataki.

"We came out with the five points so you've got be happy. I think in particular the set piece was strong, we dominated the scrums and the lineout worked well, winning all of ours and a couple of theirs.

"We've been working on that over the last couple of weeks, especially the scrumming, so compliments to the forwards for getting us the ball to play with," Smith said.

He highlighted the experience in the backline as another contributing factor in the win.

"We've got some experienced players, Matthew Garland from the Bay, Te Rangi Fraser is an ex-Bay of Plenty player and Kelly Haimona is an international. They provide the spark in our back line.

"The main work-on for the team is defence, our line speed and attitude in defence is something we can improve."

Meanwhile, Rotoiti coach Richard Francis was philosophical in defeat, saying the team often learned more from a loss than a win.

"Everything went wrong, it was one of the games and that's rugby. We need learn from it and look forward to next weekend," Francis said.

He said discipline and sticking to structures were the two main work-ons.

"The boys just didn't turn up yesterday. Our first two games were good, but they just went back to bad habits, away from their structure, and got punished for it. That's good though, there will be a bit of soul searching before we play Ngongotaha next week, we're hosting them with the Tai Mitchell Shield on the line."

Ngongotaha were handed a premier rugby lesson by Te Puke, who beat them 62-7, and coach Jodie Wharekura said it was "a really tough day".

"All praise to Te Puke, they were very, very clinical, very well structured and well coached. We just couldn't compete with the pace of their game.

"We were in it and looking good for the first 15-20 minutes of the first half, but we just failed to produce the final pass. When the ball went down they were so clinical, they made us pay for every mistake," Wharekura said.

He said the positive was that the players never stopped trying.

"They never gave up, right through to the final whistle. I made it very clear at the start of the season that this would be a hang-tough year for us. We'll look at targeting games to win and of course Te Puke sports wasn't one of those."

Baywide Premier Club Rugby Results:
Greerton Marist 92 v Paroa 12
Tauranga Sports 58 v Rotoiti 18
Te Puna 30 v Mount Maunganui 14
Rangataua 107 v Whakatane Marist 7
Te Puke Sports 62 v Ngongotaha 7
Whakarewarewa 41 v Arataki 19

Baywide Premier Development Club Rugby Results:
Greerton Marist 73 v Paroa 0
Te Puna 31 v Mount Maunganui 12
Rangataua 70 v Whakatane Marist 0
Te Puke Sports 33 v Ngongotaha 12
Arataki 38 v Whakarewarewa 10
Tauranga Sports v Rotoiti – no result received.

Baywide Division One Results:
Te Teko 55 v Papamoa 15
Marist St Michael's 45 v Poroporo 22
Opotiki 55 v Ruatoki 22
Rangiuru 51 v Kahukura 5
Waikite 31 v Waimana 19
Murupara 27 v Judea 24

Results supplied by the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union