Club league goes coastal

The Manawatu club rugby league season is going to look a lot different this year.

The club season starts today, but there is a new Coast to Coast competition this year, which covers teams from Hawke’s Bay across to Taranaki.

The Manawatu teams are the same from last year - the Kia Ora Warriors, Ohakea Magpies, Tainui Rhinos, Linton Cobras and Whanganui Boxon - but there is also Bridge Pa from Flaxmere in Hastings and three from Taranaki, who are yet to be confirmed.

Taranaki and Manawatu have held a Western Alliance competition in the past few years, but Coast to Coast has replaced that.

Taranaki are holding a nines competition this weekend, then will decide who the three teams are for when the western pool start next weekend.

Coastal Cobras and Waitara Bears are likely to take two of the spots, but they are waiting to see if Western Suburbs or Marist Dragons will be able to get a team together.

Hawke’s Bay usually run their club competition in the spring, but have entered a team in the Coast to Coast to try ato grow the game in the region.

Linton and Ohakea will make the trip to Flaxmere to play Bridge Pa, but the Hawke’s Bay team will travel to Manawatu for the rest of their games.

The Dannevirke Tigers and Foxton Rebels had tried to enter senior teams again this season, but pulled out. The travel factor may have been too much for them in their first year back.

In the Coast to Coast, the three teams from Taranaki and Boxon are in the western pool, and the Manawatu teams and Bridge Pa are in the eastern pool. After pool games, there will be crossover semfinals and a final on May 20.

Once the Coast to Coast has finished, the Manawatu competition will start. After a round-robin for all five teams, there is a four-week finals series, with the grand final on July 29.

The Manawatu Mustangs rep side will start training in May, but their season doesn’t start until August, with dates to be confirmed.

They will play the Taranaki Sharks, Wellington Orcas and Hawke’s Bay Unicorns, in what are qualifying matches for the national provincial competition.

Wellington were relegated last season and last year only Manawatu and Taranaki played from the Mid Central zone because Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne pulled out.

Matthew Cole will coach the Mustangs for a second year.