OBM and Waikohu go into their clash having shared the honours one-apiece in their two clashes this season.
Their first encounter in Week 3 saw OBM win 36-22 at Te Karaka in a physical battle.
They met again in Week 8 at the Oval where the scales tipped in favour of the men from Te Karaka — 29-24 — in a game that was closely contested from kick-off to the fulltime whistle.
Waikohu snatched the win with a try to first five Ethine Reeves in the closing minutes that not only earned them revenge but boosted belief within their squad that they could go all the way.
The bitter taste of defeat, though, can also be incentive and OBM will be dangerously determined to turn that disappointment into success at the most important stage of the season.
They have held second place on the table throughout the competition — losing only to YMP and Waikohu in their nine matches.
OBM skipper Rikki Terekia said he would be impressing on “the bros” that “it’s do or die” and calling for them to “put your best foot forward and leave everything on the field so we can walk off it with our heads held high”.
Despite rebuilding their squad this season, Waikohu have stayed in contention and will be giving it their all to keep their championship hopes alive.
It’s take 2 for YMP skipper Shayde Skudder who was to play his 150th Premier game last Saturday only for the district state of emergency to intervene.
He will mark that tomorrow and perhaps the semifinal is a more fitting stage for the loyal servant.
YMP coach Kahu Tamatea is familiar with this end of the competition through his experiences as a player and is passing this knowledge on to the newer team members.
“We have some newbies and young guys so (my advice) is use the nerves in a good way and trust in what has been learnt this season, and to take it up a couple of notches,” Tamatea said.
“Knockout semifinals are a different ball game. We are all starting again, which adds to the excitement.”
YMP have been preparing the entire season for the next two weeks — should they win tomorrow — and Tamatea’s basic message to the side is to do the fundamentals of their jobs, and do these well.
At this stage of the season, Tamatea said it was about “fine-tuning and making sure we all nail down our core roles because that’s what has got us to this point”.
While YMP have had comfortable wins over Ngatapa in rounds 1 and 2 — 49-10 and 57-12 — Tamatea will be impressing on his side not to take anything for granted, and that while they can be confident, there is no room for complacency.
“Ngatapa will come out firing because they have nothing to lose.”
The green and whites will need something special. YMP have dominated the competition with nine bonus-point wins from nine matches. Tamatea took the helm last year and led the team to their first Lee Bros Shield win since 2010 when he was a member of the squad.
This time they are defending it and are well on track to make it back-to-back.
But it’s a script Ngatapa plan to tear up.
“We are prepared to cause the upset of the season and I think if all things go right, we can,” Ngatapa captain and lock Dan Law said. “We are just trusting our systems this weekend.”
Law said confidence had been a “huge work-on” for the squad in 2023. They tended to lose confidence and “the rest goes out the window” when they fell behind on the scoreboard.
“That will be front of mind before we head out.”
