Bay of Plenty Volcanix player Olivia Richardson gets tackled during a 40-minute pre-season match against Auckland Storm in Tauranga in August. Photo / File
Bay of Plenty Volcanix player Olivia Richardson gets tackled during a 40-minute pre-season match against Auckland Storm in Tauranga in August. Photo / File
It's do or die for the Bay of Plenty Volcanix.
Sitting at the bottom of the Farah Palmer Cup Premiership standings, simply put, Bay of Plenty need a win over Auckland Storm tonight.
After four rounds both teams have taken up the last two spaces on the table with four games played, one win and three losses.
Defeat for either side will be adverse as the round robin matches near an end.
Next week the Volcanix will face Counties Manukau in the final week of the round-robin matches before the competition enters semifinals and finals scheduled for October 13 and 20 respectively.
However, captain Christine Yule says the team's focus will remain on tonight's battle against Auckland.
They're aiming for a win. They have plans in place to help them get that win. They know without it, their hopes of remaining in the premier division dwindles.
"Our own game is definitely how we're going to have to play this one if we tried to match Auckland's game I think it'll be quite an arm wrestle.
The Bay's 2018 top-tier status follows a promotion from the championship division to the premiership division of the Farah Palmer Cup after a final championship victory over Otago at Blake Park last year.
"We don't want to be one season wonders; we want to stay.
"We're in the division for a reason."
The Volcanix have the advantage though.
They're going into tonight's game with confidence after scoring a massive 73-0 win against Taranaki last Friday night.
That win, Yule says, was vital for her team.
"We kind of needed a game like that to remind ourselves that we are good rugby players and that we're in the top division for a reason, we deserve to be there and just have confidence in that.
"We're pretty excited and looking forward to testing out our new-found confidence playing in Auckland.
"The systems we've been practising came into their own in that game which kind of proves to the girls that 'yip, what we've put in place is a winning structure', we just need to put it out there on the field."
Both Auckland and Bay of Plenty are familiar with each other on the field having played a Game of Three Halves against each other and the Black Ferns in August.
The pre-season match did not go in favour of the Bay, but Yule says they now have a better idea of what to expect from their opposition ... as do they.
"It gives us an idea of what they're going to try against us."
Bay of Plenty Volcanix captain Christie Yule fends off an Auckland defender during their pre-season 40-minute match in August. Photo / File
Overall, the size of the Auckland team is physically bigger than the Volcanix side, and Yule says she and the Bay women will not give in and play their opponents' game and try to go hit for hit with them.
Instead, Yule says, they will focus on their strengths and using their fitness and speed.
"We're just basically looking at targeting, or using our fitness should we say and our speed, as opposed to trying to front up and hit their big girls. So yeah, we'll look to do that by means of running them around a bit more.
"We'll probably see a lot more ball in hand, spreading it a bit wider and trying to assert our dominance up front and setting a solid platform, so we should see the ball getting out wider, letting our backs have a bit of a play around, a bit of a run around and hopefully get some tries out there."
They're hungry for the win and Yule is confident they have enough in them to get it.
"We want to set ourselves up and get that so we can look forward to future games and try and set ourselves up a bit higher on the table ... we think what we've got could definitely get the win."
Auckland v Bay of Plenty Where: Eden Park, Auckland When: Friday, 5.05pm
