NZ Maori team want to farewell coach in style

The New Zealand Maori rugby team want to send long-serving coach Matt Te Pou off on a winning note against the Lions in Hamilton on Saturday.

Te Pou is likely to step down as Maori coach following the match at Waikato Stadium, having been in the job for a decade.

Canterbury loose-head prop Greg Feek, 29, is one of the more experienced hands in the squad, having played for the Maori team since 1998, including 14 matches, and he would like to help send Te Pou out in style.

"It's Matt Te Pou's last time as coach and he's got the strongest team available to him to pick, barring injuries," Feek said in Hamilton this week.

"He's a big stalwart of Maori rugby and the boys will be wanting to send him off in the way he deserves so it's very big for us."

On top of that Feek, who had two years in the All Blacks squad before injury intervened, said he and many of his teammates were viewing the match as the biggest game of their careers -- a rare chance to take on the Lions.

To do that Feek and his fellow tight forwards know they have to do the hard yards to lay the platform needed against a Lions outfit overflowing with set-piece specialists and physically imposing forwards.

"For me personally, the front row and the scrum as a whole we want to do the yards and make sure we go into the game as prepared as we can.

"They've obviously had a lot of preparation and their set piece is second to none, but as far as combinations go they're probably trying a few things out still and for us this is huge so there is no way we're going to go into this game scared or anything like that.

"It definitely will be challenging, we know that, but we'll just have to work together and get through it."

The off-the-field fun, daily kapa haka gatherings and singalongs had quickly drawn the Maori squad into a tight unit, which made preparation for a big match easier.

- nzpa