Rugby: Ngongotaha face acid test at Arataki

FULL STEAM: John Ririnui is one of the Ngongotaha players with Baywide premier rugby experience. PHOTO/BEN FRASER A_200517bf10.JPG

In a quirk of the draw, Ngongotaha find themselves in exactly the same situation as they were 12 months ago.

Going into the second phase of the Baywide rugby competition, Ngongotaha will tomorrow travel to Arataki in the first round of the Premier 2 competition as division 1 champions.

Ngongotaha have swept all before them in division 1, and are now in a battle with three other division 1 sides and the bottom four from the premier division for a place in next season's Baywide premiership.

It's an acid test for the team that has racked up plenty of big wins against division 1 opposition. But coach Jodie Wharekura is a cautious man, with good reason.

"We were in the same position last year when we finished first in division 1. It just so happens that Arataki was our first game and it was over there as well," he said.

"We thought we had been tracking along quite nicely, but it didn't take us long to realise we were quite a way off the mark. We got a lesson dealt to us that day - I think we lost by 30 or 40 points, it might have been more - it was a good old-fashioned hiding and one we didn't really recover from."

While the loss still hurts both the coach and the players that are still with the club and Wharekura believes his side is better than it was 12 months ago, he is wary.

"I really think we are playing at a different level, but just how high above that division 1 level, I don't know. I'm pretty confident with what we've done so far, but it's just that unknown."

Wharekura is well aware of the strength of this year's Arataki - although they finished in the bottom for the premier division, they have beaten defending Baywide champions Rangataua this season.

Preparation in the lead-up to the game has focused on Ngongotaha and not on Arataki.

"We're sticking to the same things we have been doing, we've just lifted our intensity with the way we've approached things."

What Ngongotaha does have are players who have played at that Baywide premier division level.

"It's guys like Zak Hohnek, John Ririnui, Jared Tauiwi, Jordyn Fiaola - guys who have been in premier teams as of late. We are lucky to have them because they can verify what we are trying to coach and say we're not far off."

It has been a long-standing goal to return to the Baywide premiership and to do that, Ngongotaha must finish in the top four of the premier 2 competition.

"We just have to keep that vision of us going through to the top four. Although it's great to have visions and all the rest of it, you've got to put that all together on the paddock and you've got 80 minutes to do so.

"We want to beat our fellow first division teams and then we've got to take one or two of those other scalps, that's how it is. I think we are ready. It sounds easy, but there are 22 other players and coaching staff who want to beat you."

Other Rotorua sides Waikite and Marist St Michael's are also in the premier 2 division
seeking a top-four spot. They are both away tomorrow, at Paroa and Poroporo respectively.

The games all kick off at 2.45pm.