Te Waiariki Maori coach Murray Sturt wants to see his side express themselves during their opening game of the Te Hiku o Te Ika Maori Rugby tournament.They go up against the Auckland Maori side in Auckland today and Sturt said with all the trainings, warm-up games and preparation completed, it was up to the players to put it all together on the field.
"Our last game was three weeks ago. On the Wednesday just gone we had a really good training with good numbers. That makes selecting the team a little bit harder but we're happy with the squad we've got.
"It makes them step up their training, the competitive side comes out of the boys. We do game scenarios where we look at what we want to do in different areas and how we're going to do it.
"[The mood in the squad] is really positive. I just want to see some expression, we've given them free licence to express themselves. We've got game plans and all that put in place but we want to see some exciting footy," Sturt said.
He said the ability to play exciting, free flowing rugby often came naturally to Maori players.