Waikato do their homework to avoid repeating playoff mistakes

Waikato did not do their homework sufficiently for last year's NPC playoffs and paid the price in the final, according to assistant coach Farrell Temata.

Temata and the rest of the Waikato management team are in no mood to make the same mistake twice as they prepare for the semifinal against Wellington in Hamilton on Friday night.

He knows more than most about preparing teams for NPC semifinals. This is his fourth, having won two of the previous three.

In 1992 Temata was assistant to Kevin Greene when they took Waikato to the first semifinals, and then final, held in the NPC.

Waikato won the title that year - the only time they have - and the following year Temata was there again when Waikato lost to Otago in a semifinal in Dunedin.

Last year, when Temata returned to the coaching fold at the request of head coach Ian Foster, who was a player in the 1992-93 teams, he again was part of a semifinal appearance, which saw Waikato beat Otago 41-37, only to lose to Auckland 40-28 in a home final.

"Your approach has got to be a wee bit different. It's a one-off game - you don't get any second chances, obviously, with semifinals - and you've got to put it together on the day," Temata said.

With playoff games also comes a second chance for teams beaten by their opponents during the round-robin to learn from their mistakes, improve their analysis of the opposition, and make crucial tactical adjustments.

Auckland did just that in last year's final and reaped the rewards.

Temata said Waikato had learned an important lesson from that experience, which they would apply this week against a Wellington team they beat 23-18 in Hamilton seven weeks ago.

"Obviously, Auckland read us pretty well last year. Wellington will take into account what happened in the round-robin [against us] and they will also do their homework over our previous games, particularly last week, so you can't take anything for granted in these games."

The best-prepared team would win. "I think we've learned from [last year's final]. Perhaps we were a wee bit complacent with our homework last year and that certainly won't be the case this time around."

He said it was a great feeling to be in a semifinal, but the team set high standards and wanted to at least equal last year's achievement of making the final.

"I think the guys have shown a lot of courage in getting to this one. They've had to fight back from a couple of setbacks and we didn't have to do that last year."

Meanwhile, a long list of walking wounded at training included Loki Crichton, Derek Maisey, Regan King, Haden Hireme, David Briggs and Matt Priscott.

- NZPA

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