Injury issues for Bay as Leaf set for blazer game

Poverty Bay midfield back Jacob Leaf, in action against Buller, will play his blazer (30th) game for the province when the Wekas take on North Otago in Gisborne tomorrow in Week 6 of the Heartland Championship. Picture by Paul Rickard

It’s time for Poverty Bay to turn their Heartland Championship season around and there is no better place to do that than at home.

Civil Project Solutions Poverty Bay Wekas will look to break a four-game losing streak at the Oval tomorrow when they host sixth-placed North Otago (2.30pm kick-off).

Last weekend’s 31-11 loss to Ngāti Porou East Coast in Ruatōria in Week 5 of the competition dropped the Wekas to 10th on the 12-team table and proved costly injury-wise, with two more players added to the casualty list — lock Dan Law and second-rower Khian Westrupp.

But there’s plenty of talent in the squad including second-five Jacob Leaf, who will receive his Poverty Bay blazer  for 30 first-class games at the aftermatch function tomorrow.

“That’s a massive milestone,” Poverty Bay head coach Miah Nikora said. “He’s gone from strength to strength on and off the field. He has become an integral part of the team.”

Leaf, who made his debut in 2019, has made the starting second-five spot his own.

“His is always the name that goes down on the 12 jersey,” Nikora said. “There has been competition there but he has just been so good that he has earned that. He’s really consistent now. He has matured a lot on and off the field and it’s showing in the way he’s playing.”

Also impressing in the Bay’s 2023 campaign has been No.8 Stuart Leach in hs first rep season while Ricardo Patricio, in his second season, has been a revelation at fullback.

The Wekas will once again be without injured first-five and co-captain Kelvin Smith.

Centre Mitch Purvis moved inside to fill that gap against the Coast but could share the role tomorrow with player of origin Jonty Stewart (Hawke’s Bay), a specialist first-five who debuted for Poverty Bay last weekend.

Winger Taine Aupouri has shown his strength and speed this season and it would be interesting to see how he would perform in the midfield if given the opportunity.

Halfback Ra Broughton, in his second season, has become part of the leadership team in Smith’s absence and will again be vice-captain to skipper and hooker Shayde Skudder tomorrow.

The Bay, however, will be without Law and Westrupp for the rest of the season.

Law sustained an eye injury against the Coast while a try-saving attempt by Westrupp resulted in him dislocating his shoulder .

Lock Morgan Reedy remains out with injury.

“We are battling a bit on the injury front,” Nikora said. “But we still have guys there who will front up, give it their all and do the jersey proud.”

The injuries mean there will be some shuffling of positions.

“We have had to obviously alter a few new positions. You might see a couple of guys playing in a different position than what they usually would. But we will tweak a few things in our game.”

Discipline was an issue in last week’s loss. They were on the wrong end of a 15-11 penalty tally and were issued three yellow cards — equating to playing with 14 men for 30 minutes of the game.

The Bay will look to make more of their opportunities against the Old Golds tomorrow and a rub of the green would not go amiss.

“I suppose it would be nice to have a little luck,” Nikora said. “But we will keep on working hard. We will keep digging deep to do the jersey proud.

“The boys are definitely looking forward to tomorrow. It’s always nice to play at home in front of our friends and whānau.

‘But it’s going to be another tough challenge for us . . . North Otago are a quality team.”

History is also on the southerners’ side. They have won the last seven clashes between the sides, preceded by a 30-all draw in August 2011 at the Oval.

The Wekas last beat them in 2009 — 18-10 at Rugby Park.