"We're not where we want to be at all."
Working through his injury, Rowe is pencilled in as a "maybe" to play his first game of the season, where despite a tough first round, his team still sits only three points adrift of fourth-placed Dave Hoskin Carriers Marist.
"I'm just still waiting to see how it goes tonight [Thursday training]. I hope to be back soon," he said.
The team received a big boost as rolling up to training last week was Craig Clare, the 31-year-old fullback from Palmerston North who played over 65 NPC games for Manawatu as well as Otago and Bay of Plenty from 2003-15.
As a standout prospect in 2007, the-then 22-year-old Clare played five games for the Otago Highlanders until a cruel compound fracture of the leg saw him miss rugby for two years.
In addition to making a comeback to NPC level, he played professionally overseas in Italy, Spain and Russia, playing for the same Siberian club as Taihape's Glen Horton, also a teammate in the Highlanders.
"He's mates with one of the guys in the team and just moved to Whanganui," said Rowe.
"[The mate] said, 'come play up here', and it's much appreciated.
"He looks pretty quick, but at my age, everyone's quick."
In other good news out of the Ruapehu camp, young front rower Gabriel Hakaraia turned down an attractive opportunity to move to Thames Valley and quickly press to join their representative team, deciding against a mid-season shift due to his current employment and hopes of making the Wanganui squad.
Rowe has admitted Ruapehu have had teething troubles this year as the veteran players are doubling as the coaching staff there have been issues making a connection with the host of young players who have come up from the Senior squad.
"We're building. It's all there," Rowe said.
"Talking with Ginge [Evans], we just want to make sure when we finish the second round, that we actually enjoyed it.
"There's been a bit of uncertainty in part. We want to make sure at the end of the season, that [the young guys] can carry it on."
The other big game tomorrow is the return match at Memorial Park between table-topping PGG Wrightson/Balance Taihape and Wanganui Car Centre Kaierau.
Paul Mitchell Cup winners for the first round and current Grand Hotel Challenge Shield holders, the unbeaten Taihape will not want to underestimate third-placed Kaierau, as coach Kerry Whale admitted they did on April 2 when they had to come from 28-12 down to win 40-28.
Kaierau then showed solid form with a five-game winning streak, before losing to Border 39-25 in the final first round clash at the Country Club, which shows clearly where they sit compared to where they want to be in the pecking order.
On more modest terms, the game at the Ratana Pa is likely to be fierce as both the visiting Utiku Old Boys and hosts Harvey Round Motors Ratana are aware this could be their last, best hope for a good win in the competition.
Having their Senior team already default the season and looking back on seven straight losses, Ratana sat down for an honest team discussion about what they wanted for the rest of the campaign and coach Cornel Mason was delighted that everyone has agreed to stick it out.
"That was one of our main pointers to the second round - just commit.
"They've all agreed to do that.
"We had about 13 there for the indoor session [on Tuesday] and we're all back at it tonight in the cold."
Mason has noted that in season's past, certain Premier squads just seem to fade away when the prospect of making the Top 4 is gone, so if his side can stay together for the duration, it is not unreasonable to expect a decent crack at the silverware he won twice as coach of Marton - the Consolation title.
The best encouragement is how competitive they were in recent home games against Taihape (22-12 loss) and Ruapehu (32-10).
"We've got a good 30-40 minutes under our belt at the moment. We fell away from Ruapehu in the last ten minutes."
That will likely be the Achilles heel against Utiku, who despite being uncompetitive with the top teams, have shown in virtually every game that they can finish strong and score points.
The Spriggens Park derby will be a rugged affair between Marist, determined to hang onto fourth spot, and Black Bull Liquor Pirates, desperate to claw back into late semifinal contention while avenging their 34-0 hammering on April 2.
