Baywide rugby: Final week of round one kicks off this weekend

Greerton Marist play near neighbours Rangataua Sports in a key game tomorrow. Photo / File

With Te Puna already crowned first-round champions, the emphasis on Saturday's final round is all about momentum heading into the championship that begins next week.

Te Puna have not missed a beat since the opening whistle of the Farmlands Co-operative Baywide season and with one game to go are well clear in the Premier stakes with 47 points.

They are followed by Tauranga Sports, Te Puke Sports and Rotoiti (all 38), Greerton Marist (36), Mount Maunganui Sports and Rangataua Sports (27) and Whakarewarewa (25) in the top-eight placings.

In the Western Bay fixtures tomorrow, Te Puna host Te Puke at Maramatanga Park, Rangataua are home with Greerton and Arataki host Tauranga Sports.

Rangataua return home to Te Ariki Park after getting a lesson in how to take chances on offer from Te Puna last week. They take on a resurgent Greerton Marist who have won six straight games.

Rangataua head coach Aramahou Ririnui wants to see an improvement in their basic skills and taking scoring opportunities.

"With this in mind we need to focus on continuing to build on our strengths and limiting our mistakes," Ririnui says.

"Finishing off opportunities we create and ball security when on attack will be key improvements we will be hoping to make this weekend."

Greerton Marist head coach Ryan Dunnett says it is really important they get a win on Saturday against a tough side.

"We need to put out a big performance in preparation for the second round. The players are proud we have strung six wins in a row together, so we want to keep that going," he says.

"We will need to win the gain line battles to have a shot at performing well against Rangataua."

In Division 1, Rangiuru secured top spot among the four teams to join the bottom four Premier teams in next weekend's second round with a 39-12 victory over previous leaders Opotiki. It will be either Te Teko, Marist St Michael's or Waikite who will miss out on the other two places in the top four.

Rangiuru are away to Murupara tomorrow while there is a local derby match of interest at Maharaia Winiata Park between home team Judea and Papamoa.

Baywide women's round three is on Sunday and Whakarewarewa hosts unbeaten Rangataua, coached by Paul Pou.

"This week our focus is going to be doing the five percenters well, getting into position early and staying connected on defence. We need to continue to show improvement on our line speed, alignment on defence and execution of our game plan," he says.

"Our results have been good to date and I am pleased with progress and giving players the ability to develop in real game situation. There is no better learning environment than a live session. The team overall is progressing really well and they are starting to understand the game of rugby more.

"We look forward to the challenge on the weekend against Whakarewarewa who have put in a few good performances to date."

For all local sport tune into Brian Kelly's Saturday morning sport show from 7am to 8am on Newstalk ZB 1008 am, 90.2 FM.