Women's rugby: Tribal teams go head to head

Waikite coach Tina Stephens. PHOTO/FILE

Whakarewarewa, refreshed after a bye last week, will host Waikite in a Central Bay of Plenty derby tomorrow.

Waikite were put through their paces by a dominant Rangataua side last weekend, and will be hoping to take a number of lessons from that game to give an improved performance.

Back in the competition, Whakarewarewa are unbeaten and will no doubt be tested by their rivals in a competitive encounter.

Whakarewarewa head coach Ron James is excited about the game ahead.

"It is just another step up for us this weekend and it is always going to be a hard game against Waikite. It doesn't matter which team you are in whether it is women's, men's or development."

James continued highlighting his team's focus for the weekend.

"For us it will be just building on what we have started improving on and going from there. Waikite have a very strong scrum and that will be one thing we will be looking at doing is upping our performance at our set piece. Mostly [we want to] just carry on with our structure that we have slowly built into.

"I would say there would be a fair bit of interest in it, there always is with these two tribal teams when they play each other."

Waikite coach Tina Stephens reflected on last weekend's 31-5 loss, highlighting a number of key areas.

"Defence all round, especially around the ruck area, for us is a key work on. In addition to this, control of the ball, ensuring we have clean distribution to our back line is another important focus for us.

"Ball retention throughout the game will be important for us, but also making sure our defence maintains their line, making the advantage line on set plays and counteracting broken play. These are points that we need to continue to work on from our previous performances," said Stephens.

Baywide Premier Women. Sunday 1pm
Te Whanau Apanui v Rotoiti at Te Kaha, Waikite v Whakarewarewa at Bellevue Road, Rangataua v Waimana at Te Ariki Park. Rangiuru - Bye.