Western Heights High School 1st XV travel to Tauranga this weekend to defend the Te Kani shield.
Their opponents, Aquinas College, will be looking to win back the shield which they lost last season. Western Heights have come off a tough and bruising encounter against Te Whare Kura O Mauao.
Down at half time last week Heights had to work extra hard to sneak a 13-7 win win thanks to the boot of Bailey Gordon. The challenge for the Steve Smith-coached team is to keep their focus and discipline as they take on the bottom placed teams from the division.
Again Brodie Wood on defence and Gordon in the pivotal number 10 jersey will be the key to success for Western Heights. Aquinas College coach Kevin Schuler is confident that his boys will be more than competitive if they can make the passes stick out wide.
With a young and inexperienced team Schuler has been working hard to develop self-belief and team culture to offset the bigger opposition teams they come up against. With a big front row in Connor Strong and George Wood Aquinas will be relying on these two to create a platform for the dynamic halfback Jason Jacobson to attack from.