Pirates had hoped to springboard off their jubilee celebrations into returning to Premier this season, especially as the departure of Ngamatapouri from the grade could have freed up some talent to come their way.
However, with their fellow Whanganui clubs securing the bulk of the Ngamatapouri roster and Pirates having a late preseason walk-up for their regulars, new head coach Matt Davis knows there’s still a bit of work to do.
“The plan’s still to go up to Prems, but [first] it’s trying to win this grade.
“Started to get a full squad to training, which is good, especially where we came from, a month before the start of the season.
“We got a few ex-Pirates boys in that Ngamat team that we thought would come back, but it didn’t eventuate.
“You can’t stop players playing Premier.”
Davis has been assistant to former 24-game Steelform Whanganui prop Brett Turner since 2020, the pair having been teammates in Pirates’ last march to the Premier final in 2018, with Turner just focusing on playing this season.
Another player of their vintage, CJ Stowers – who was still a try-scoring machine for the Whanganui Development XV last year – will also play on-and-off depending on family commitments.
“We’ve got a good group - probably half of our squad’s new. They’re starting to push those old boys into playing good footy,” said Davis.
“They’ve brought a new spark to the team.”
Pirates follow the Tuesday-Thursday training format, except last week when they trained Wednesday to avoid giving their new clubmates Castlecliff Club Mustangs a look at their systems ahead of their inter-club derby on Saturday.
A big 74-3 victory moved them well up the table to third place, after their season started with a tough 34-22 away loss to Kelso Hunterville, before they picked up wins over JJ Walters Asphalt Marton (25-15) and McCrea Scanning Counties (52-17).
“We had quite a good start to the draw. We’re starting to build nicely, and I think the next couple of weeks will be defining,” said Davis.
That starts with hosting 2020 champions and 2021 finalists Tāmata Hauhā Rātana this Saturday at Spriggens Park.
“With Leon [Mason] there, they’re a pretty hard team to beat.”
The Senior draw is:
May 13th, 1pm kickoffs unless noted (times subject to change):
Kaierau vs Celtic, Country Club; Mustangs vs Taihape, Spirggens Park; Hunterville vs Border, Hunterville Domain; Counties vs Knights (2pm); Pirates vs Ratana, Spriggens Park (2.35pm); Marton vs Utiku, Marton Park (2.35pm).
Happenings
WOMEN’S CLUB: The WRFU Women’s Club Rugby completed its first round-robin games as Taihape defeated the Marton Queen Bees 24-5 at Marton Park on Sunday. The anticipated Kaierau vs Marist game at Cooks Gardens on Friday night had to be cancelled due to a bout of illness through the Kaierau side.
The Week 4 draw is:
May 12: Marist vs Taihape, Cooks Gardens, 7.30pm.
May 13: Marton Queen Bees vs Kaierau, Marton Park, 1pm.
NZ AMBASSADORS XV: Wanganui Car Centre Kaierau’s Brook Tremayne joined the NZ Ambassadors XV to play the Czech Republic national team recently, as well as enter the Prague Rugby Sevens tournament. Also in the squad were Whanganui expat cousins Cade Robinson and Sam Dawson, who like Tremayne previously played in the 2019 team.
SCHOOLS: The schoolboy competitions are getting under way on Saturday, the teams of Whanganui High School 1st XV, Cullinane College 1st XV and Whanganui Collegiate 2nd XV played a game of three halves. WHS picked up two wins, beating Cullinane 27-5 and Collegiate 25-7, while Collegiate got a 15-5 win over Cullinane. The Collegiate 1st XV faced Hato Pāora in their Traditionals fixture and won 103-0. Collegiate also won the under-15 game with Hato Pāora 20-5.
