Wanganui Senior rugby kicks off without Ruapehu

There will be no Ruapehu team contending for Senior trophies this season.

Once again, there have been last-minute headaches before the start of the Wanganui club rugby season as the Tasman Tanning Senior grade kicks off with one less team tomorrow.

The Ruapehu seniors were scheduled to travel to Spriggens Park to play the 2018 Consolation title-winning Marist Buffalos, however the Ohakune club has had to fold their second tier team through lack of numbers.

Ruapehu won the Senior Championship in 2015, but in the years since the best young players from that side have moved up into the Premier squad, current two-time defending champions, with the next crop of talent slow to come through in the small, isolated catchment.

The team has remained at the lower end of the Senior competition since that time, and coming into this year were struggling for both player personnel and coaching staff.

As he has done in season's prior, WRFU club development officer Paul Kenny had to scrap and redo the entire competition draw in the week before kickoff.

For this first weekend of games, it was just a simple matter of taking Pirates, who were scheduled for the bye in an 11-team grade, and putting them against Buffalos in a derby game, with the other four matches remaining intact.

However, from next weekend onwards, there will be several changes in the now 10 team competition.

If there is a silver lining to the disappointment of losing the Ruapehu seniors, it is the Senior and Premier competitions can now be aligned heading into this first season of trialling the three division format.

In June, the top four teams from Senior and the bottom two sides from Premier will form the new middle Division 2 grade, with the remaining Premier sides carrying on as Division 1 and the other Senior teams forming Division 3.

Therefore, all divisions will now have an even six teams, whereas previously Division 3 was planned to have seven, which required a bye.

It also means that by eliminating a bye in the first round of matches, every Senior team will get to play each other across nine games, as previously they were all going to miss two traditional opponents so to complete their round at the same time as the eight-team Premier.

As well as the Spriggens derby game, tomorrow sees 2018 Senior champions Hunterville hosting 2017 champions Marton, while Kaierau will be home at the Country Club to Border.

In their 50th jubilee season, Counties will start 2019 how they finished 2018 – defending the Stihl Shop Wanganui Challenge Shield against Taihape – with the only difference being it is a home game at McNab Domain.

Back at Memorial Park, Taihape's neighbours Utiku Old Boys host 2018's runnersup Marist Celtic.

The Premier competition kicks off next Saturday.