It will take some work on the field at Cooks Gardens, as Rātana lost to Marist 36-7 in their first meeting in April; however, as a new-look team for 2024, Rātana have spent more time together as a group since then to further develop their continuity.
Taihape came back in good singing spirits to their home clubrooms on Saturday evening after picking up a 65-5 win at Marton Park against the Queenbeez that afternoon.
It made for a rocking time at the Taihape Rugby and Sports Club on their sponsors’ day after a clean sweep of Saturday games – as the Premier and Senior men’s teams also both picked up victories.
The Queenbeez are scheduled to host Kaierau at Marton Park on Friday at 6.30pm as they will complete their run of home games for the regular season.
Senior competition
There was a significant event in the Border Rugby and Sports Club history almost 11 years ago to the day at Dallison Park that has some interesting parallels to current events.
The winless Border senior team had been struggling in the 2013 WRFU competition with only 54 points scored and 400 conceded by the time Stihl Shop Wanganui Challenge Shield holders Marist Celtic arrived in Waverley.
Celtic did not leave with the shield in tow as a young Border team, including then Cullinane College schoolboy and now Tasman Tanning Premier regular Tyrone Albert, defied unbackable odds with a 25-24 upset.
With more than 200 games for the club across Premier and Senior, current Border Seniors player-coach Dylan Amon would love to be able to get his young charges up for a similar one-off performance when shield-holders and table leaders Utiku Old Boys come to town on Saturday.
The senior team have the Dallison Park stage all to themselves with premier on a King’s Birthday weekend break, while this away game is Utiku’s longest journey of the season.
“It will be definitely spoken about, but it’s get those little things done – improving every week,” said Amon ahead of Wednesday night practice.
“They like the environment, and that this year [there’s] more numbers and [it’s] more sociable.
“The scores [against us] doesn’t reflect on some of the games.”
A squad of just over 20 without any Premier players filling in, if you took away Amon and his handful of veterans, the average age of the team would be roughly 19 to 21, almost all of them travelling from town to play for the club.
Helping to keep it all together are the wise men John Laurie and Matt Kiff in the forward pack, while Chris Belton runs the plays from first-five.
While winless with a -202 differential, the young Border team have been competitive in several of their seven matches so far and are building a culture that should see improvement – certainly better than the not-so-distant past when the side would default the latter part of the season.
“It would be a shame to see the team go, there’s a lot of guys that want to do this – they’re guys to get in behind,” said Amon.
Senior draw
June 1, 1pm kickoffs unless noted (times subject to change):
Ruapehu v Marton, Rochfort Park; Border v Utiku Old Boys, Dallison Park; Marist Knights v Pirates, Spriggens Park; Hunterville v Celtic, Hunterville Domain; Counties v Taihape, Macnab Domain (2pm); Kaierau v Rātana, Country Club.
