League: Ngongotaha lose opener in new club comp

Steeden Rugby League ball. Supplied 18 September 2008 to New Zealand Herald NZH 19sep08 -

The newly established Wai-Coa-Bay Premiership is underway this season - although it was a less than ideal start for one of Rotorua's top rugby league clubs Ngongotaha.

The best rugby league clubs from across the Bay of Plenty have joined forces with the top league clubs from Waikato this season to create a new competition, the Wai-Coa-Bay Premiership.

All round one matches were staged at Tokoroa's Memorial Park yesterday with Ngongotaha going down to Turangawaewae (Ngaruawahia) 34-14.

Rotorua's only other premier side, Pikiao, have to wait until next weekend to get their first crack at the new premier competition, after getting drawn the bye in round one.

Perhaps the most anticipated match of the day during the opening round was the fixture between Pacific Sharks (Tokoroa) and Hamilton City Tigers.

The Sharks won the Bay of Plenty/Coastline premier competition last year while Hamilton City took out the Waikato competition. Pacific were trailing Hamilton City for most of the match and ended up losing in a close game 18-12.

"Both teams played well I thought. But in the end Hamilton probably wanted it a bit more than we did and their big boys made a lot of metres down the middle," Pacific head coach Neville Takiri said. "So it is a good learning curve for the younger ones."

He said the new competition would help boost rugby league in the region.

"It should do. It is a better competition and there is more teams to play so it can only be good for the level of rugby league here."

Takiri said their goal was to make the semifinals in the nine-team premier competition.
"That's the goal, make the top four and we will go from there."

In the other premier matches, Taupo Phoenix posted a 22-10 win over Taniwharau (Huntly) while the Otumoetai Eels defeated United (Hamilton) 38-26.

In the Wai-Coa-Bay Reserve Grade, Rotorua's Central Lions posted a huge first-up win against Turangawaewae reserves 74-4, while the Reporoa Razorbacks went down to Taniwharau reserves 34-28.

The Wai-Coa-Bay Premiership will run for 17 rounds followed by semifinals in August.

Results from round one:

Wai-Coa-Bay Premiership: Pacific 12-18 Hamilton City Tigers, Ngongotaha 14-30 Turangawaewae, Taupo 22-10 Taniwharau, Otumoetai 54-26 United, Pikiao bye.

Wai-Coa-Bay Reserve Grade: Pacific 34-32 Hamilton City Tigers, Central 74-4 Turangawaewae, Reporoa 28-34 Taniwharau, Otumoetai 28-26 United, Pikiao bye.

Division One: Papamoa 8-50 Mangakino, Taneatua 16-18 Putauaki, Tauhara bye.