Rotorua Boys' High School First XV coach Ruki Tipuna. Photo / Stephen Parker
He might only have one competition game under his belt as Rotorua Boys' High School First XV coach, but former Bay of Plenty Steamer Ruki Tipuna is well aware of the cut-throat nature of First XV rugby.
The school team opened its 2017 season with a 41-12 Chiefs Cup victory over St John's College last weekend. The competition, for school teams within the Chiefs franchise area, continues this and next weekend with pool games against Francis Douglas Memorial College and Wesley College respectively, before finals day on May 27.
"After the Chiefs Cup we go into Super Eights and then, from there, we play a one-off game against Tauranga Boys' College and the winner then goes into round robin play with all the provincial winners from the Chiefs region. It gets really cut-throat at that stage because you lose, you're out."
The winner of that round of games then goes on to compete in the Top Four title for the accolade of being the country's top secondary school rugby team, a mantle Boys' High wore two years ago.
But that's for later in the season. After just a couple of pre-season games and the victory over St John's, Tipuna is still familiarising himself with the secondary school rugby landscape.
"I was happy to get a win and get a good start in the competition, given that it was our first competition game," said Tipuna.
"I don't know where St John's are placed in terms of strength and, if I'm honest, I don't really know where we are placed. I think we are a good team but also we are a young team. After we've had a few more hit outs, I'll probably be able to see better where we're at.
"The Chiefs Cup is about us building, getting all our structures in place and making sure our bits and pieces are all covered off and then we really want to be peaking from the start to the middle of the Super Eights because after that, that's when you only get one chance, so its full-on from now."
Among the core of players backing up from last season is Hayze Perham, a member of the New Zealand Barbarians Schools last season with last year's teammate Kaleb Trask, who has now left school and is playing for Tauranga Sports.
"[Perham] is a real star, a really good player," said Tipuna.
"In the forwards we've got Semisi [Paea], Stephen Schwenke and there's also Jayden Sargent, who was a bit of a fix-it man last year but will be playing halfback this year. Basically that's our core from last year."
While the coach and his players have talked about their own goals for the season, Tipuna has no doubts about expectations.
"We aspire to be the top secondary school in the country. I've been told we don't do development years here, so they've all got to be good years."
Tipuna, 33, is still playing part-time with Rangataua - "when I can, around the first XV" - but said when the opportunity to coach at his old school and be its rugby academy's director of rugby came along, it was too good to pass up.
"I went to school here and it's a good role, something a lot of people would like to do. It's also part of the transition from rugby into a career that's not rugby. I might have had one or two years of pro rugby left in me - might have - but this presented itself and I though it was a bit too good to turn away."
He coached the school's First XV in 2006 when they reached the Top Four.
"But outside that I've been paying the whole time."
While he doesn't necessarily see his longer term future in coaching, he is excited by the challenge on offer.
"The elite schoolboys are one step away from playing, whether it be NPC-type rugby or Super Rugby," he said.
"It would be awesome to see boys come through this programme and go on to play pro rugby, or league if they go that way."
But he and the school are well aware of the need to produce good young men.
"That's a huge focus in the [rugby] academy, the same as it is with the All Blacks - better people make better players - that's huge, so we are always pushing for that. They are all good at rugby, but it's also about whether they are doing well in English, maths, science or whatever.
"We let the parents of the junior boys know that because those are the sorts of boys we want coming into the First XV."