Ngongotaha's Masiu Vainikolo in action during last year's Baywide rugby competition. Photo / File
Ngongotaha's Masiu Vainikolo in action during last year's Baywide rugby competition. Photo / File
With the Baywide rugby season just around the corner, Rotorua's top sides will battle for bragging rights and some prestigious titles during the last round of pre-season games tomorrow.Ngongotaha and Rotoiti are in the final of the pre-season Central Bay of Plenty competition, playing for the Tai Mitchell Shield and Rotorua Banner at Rotorua International Stadium at 2.45pm. Waikite and Kahukura will play for the Paul Scott Trophy at 1pm.
During the past two weeks, 2017 Baywide Premier grand finalists Rotoiti have shown they will again be among the top competitors with a 46-12 win over Kahukura and a 36-0 win against Waikite.
They will be defending the Tai Mitchell Shield, which they took from Whakarewarewa in May last year and successfully defended against the same opposition in the last week of the Premier 1 round-robin.
Rotoiti coach Richard Francis said his squad, who produced some magic moments to reach the final last year before coming out second best against Mount Maunganui, was relatively unchanged.
"We've had a couple of good games so far. It's pretty much the same team with two or three new players, just to bolster our ranks.
"Hopefully we learn from last year, coming off the back of last year's final we learnt some lessons," Francis said.
Baden Wardlaw will captain Rotoiti again this season. Photo / File
He said winning the Tai Mitchell last year "boosted the mana of our club".
"The mana of Rotorua rugby is in the Tai Mitchell and the Banner. It's quite prestigious for us and we want to see that Banner hanging in our club, so we'll be going all out to win it."
Rotoiti would be foolish to underestimate their opponents Ngongotaha this weekend, after they produced an 18-17 upset win over Banner holders Whakarewarewa last weekend to book a spot in the final.
Ngongotaha started 2017 in Division 1, where they won all 11 games to ensure they played the second phase of the competition in Premier 2. They finished in the top four of the Premier 2 round-robin to earn promotion to the premier competition for the 2018 season.
Ngongotaha coach Jodie Wharekura, who was captain last time the club won the Rotorua Banner in 1997, said he and the players could not wait to play in this weekend's final.
"We were very happy with last week, considering it was our first hit-out. We've trained long and hard this summer so I knew what we were going to bring, it was really good," Wharekura said.
Not happy with simply securing a spot in the premier grade this year, Ngongotaha are desperate to be competitive.
"When the season finished last year, pretty much the following day we started preparing for this season. It's just about reviewing everything you've done and finding the elements where you can better yourself.
"From where we were sitting last season, we were a long way off the pace from where we need to be just to be competitive, let alone try and win it. We don't want to be the team that goes up to prems and comes back down to Division 1 after the first year."
He said it was nice to see the words "Ngongotaha versus Rotoiti" on this weekend's schedule, after years of Rotoiti and Whakarewarewa dominance.
"This is the pinnacle of Rotorua rugby, it's been a bloomin long time between drinks. We are so over the moon to be on the same field as Rotoiti to contest the Banner," he said.
Central Bay of Plenty pre-season Saturday, March 17
