Vipers take 5 Boxons for season's kick off

The Whanganui Boxon premier players who played the Vipers pre-season match last weekend. Back left (with his son) Che Barlow, Ihaka Reweti, Jordan Davis. Front, Uriah Ponga, Pentuakau Turia-Bennett.

The Whanganui boys shone in their positionsFive Wanganui Boxon players are on deck for the Mid Central Zone Vipers getting ready for the start of the NZRL national competition next weekend.

Che Barlow, Ihaka Reweti, Jordan Davis, Uriah Ponga and Pentuakau Turia-Bennett all played in the preseason warm-up game against the Waicoa Bay Stallions in Tokoroa recently.

Although a 14-point loss, Central general manager Lisa Reweti said this was still a considerable improvement on the 60-point hammering the last time a Vipers team played Waicoa Bay.

"The preseason match saw some great hit-ups by both sides although the front row pack from Stallions outweighed and outplayed their opposition.

"Once again, these [Whanganui] boys shone in their respective positions with Davis achieving a hat-trick with three fantastic tries.

"There are some great things to take away from that game and we look forward to more improvements with a Vipers training camp on this weekend."

Reweti said plans made to accommodate player welfare namely flights and generally less travel for training meant the Vipers coaching staff could focus on positional strategies, and with a larger talent pool better results were expected.

The first game is next weekend in Auckland against the Akaranga Falcons.

From there, they will play at Cooks Gardens on Sunday, September 15, with kick-off at 2.30pm.

An under-17s game between the Vipers and the Wellington Orcas will be the curtain raiser at 1pm and Reweti said they were looking for a Taranaki Girls team to play Wanganui College Girls at 12pm.