Ngongotahā's Masi-Oti Neuri tries to evade Pikiao's defence. Photo / Ben Fraser
Ngongotahā's Masi-Oti Neuri tries to evade Pikiao's defence. Photo / Ben Fraser
Relief.
That was the feeling Pikiao's premier head coach Jason Parata felt on Saturday when his side won their first match of their season against Rotorua rivals Ngongotahā.
"It's the first [win] of the season and the first at Puketawhero since the grand final in 2017," Parata said.
Pikiao's 22-18 victory in week two of round two of their Bay of Plenty District Rugby League competition has been a long time coming - momentum the teams to see continue for the rest of the season.
"I think we've been building towards it, we've had a couple of close games our last two games against Mangakino and Pacific and the boys have just got a bit more belief now."
It was the second time they had faced off with Ngongotahā this season, going down 38-24 to them in round one.
Pikiao's defences piles onto Ngongotahā's John Ririnui in Bay of Plenty Rugby League competition in Rotorua at the weekend. Photo / Ben Fraser
"We lost the first round ... and they punished us through the middle so our call was to aim up defensively, put your body in front of them, stop them however we can," Parata says.
The first round didn't go so well for Pikiao, so they were looking forward.
"We had a really bad game against Taupō in the first round, like we got beat 72-12 or something.
"We just had a good hard look at ourselves defensively ... we've seen a big improvement."
Parata says it was nice to be able to win for their supporters at home.
"There was a good crowd there, glad we got to send off our supports away happy."
This weekend teams will have a break for the and Parata says they'll be looking forward to getting back into competition mode the week after to face Taupō again.
"Just to turn the result around would be good, but just to aim up ... we're all natural attackers but our defence needs to aim up a bit."
With only five teams in the competition, Parata says they are eyeing a top-four finish.
"If we can scrape in the top four anything can happen in the finals."
Bay of Plenty District Rugby League Premier Results: Pikiao 22 vs Ngongotahā 18. Pacific 46 vs Mangakino 14.
Reserve Grade: Central 36 vs Pikiao 4. Pacific 68 vs Putauaki 24. Taupo Bye.
