Rugby: Plenty to play for on Anzac Day

Tauranga Sports will face Greerton in an Anzac Day clash today. Photo/File

Quick recovery is key for Bay of Plenty Premier rugby teams this week with a full round of Anzac Day fixtures today.Greerton received a confidence boost when they scored in the dying minutes to beat the defending champions Mount Maunganui 21-17 at the weekend. They sit in eighth place and will look to build on that momentum when they host third-placed Tauranga Sports this weekend.

Greerton coach Ryan Dunnett said he was "really happy" with the performance against Mount Maunganui.

"Especially playing over there, I don't know if the club has won over there for a long time. It's the first time all year we've kind of played as a team, so we're pretty happy with that to be honest.

"Our forwards have really improved over the last couple of weeks. Tauranga Sports are obviously one of the benchmarks in the Bay of Plenty comp, so it's always going to be a challenging game, but the boys are looking forward to it."

Dunnett said the players were excited about playing at home on Anzac Day.

"Obviously we have to cram a lot of games into the competition before Mitre 10 Cup starts, but three games in eight days will be a good test for us.

"We just need to concentrate on ourselves, dominate up front and then our backs need to get us over the gain line so we can play. That's our focus. There's no easy games in this competition, which is good."

Meanwhile, Tauranga Sports produced an error-ridden performance and conceded five tries in a 40-12 loss to Te Puna on Saturday.

Assistant coach Culum Retallick said his side was struggling with injuries.

"We've got a fair few injuries at the moment, we've got six or seven guys from the development side starting for us against Greerton. But, the positive is it's a good chance for these guys to have a go at premier rugby.

"It's the first round where you don't have to win too many games to make the top eight and go through to the next round, so the more guys we can give an opportunity to, we'll have a good number of guys with that experience when it counts."

Retallick said line speed on defence was one of the work-ons from the loss to Te Puna.

"That was quite poor against Te Puna, but they played pretty well to be fair. We also played too much footy in our own half, we need to play a bit more territory and make good decisions around when we're kicking the ball back and getting ourselves into good positions."

While the midweek fixture was tough on the players, Retallick said, for him personally, he had always enjoyed Anzac Day games.

"When I was playing Super Rugby and playing on Anzac Day, with the national anthem and The Last Post, was pretty cool, you'd be pretty fired up. It did that for me and I'm sure it'll be the same for these boys."

Baywide Premier Club Rugby Draw
Today(Premier kick-off: 2.45pm, Development kick-off: 1pm):
Greerton v Tauranga Sports at Greerton Park, Paroa v Whakatane Marist at Lawson Park, Rotoiti v Whakarewarewa at Emery Park, Te Puna v Ngongotaha at Maramatanga Park, Te Puke v Arataki at Murray Salt Stadium.

Baywide Division One Draw
Today(kick-off: 2.45pm):
Kahukura v Judea at Kuirau Park, Te Teko v Murupara at Dunderdale Park, Waikite v Ruatoki at Bellvue Road, Marist St Michael's v Opotiki at Marist Park, Waimana v Rangiuru at Waimana Domain, Poroporo v Papamoa at Poroporo Park.