Foxes ready for kick off
The Thames Valley rugby team play Horowhenua-Kapiti in the first round of the Heartland Championship at Paeroa on Saturday.
The Swamp Foxes have been strengthened by the availability of Lance Easton (Tairua) and Tyrone Keith (Te Aroha Cobras) who both played for the New Zealand Heartland team last year.
Kent McFarlane of Waihou is back from injury and Melville five-eighth, Jonnie Te Ruki Chambers backs up from 2015 as a loan player.
These four players have over 120 first-class games between them.
Matches against Horowhenua– Kapiti are always close contests. When the teams last met in 2014 they played out a 19-all draw at Levin.
Thames Valley will be spurred on by members of the 1976 team who are having a reunion to mark the 40th anniversary of the National Provincial Championship. That team defeated Horowhenua 16-11 at Levin and this was Thames Valley’s first win in the new competition.
Of special interest this year is a new points scoring system.
A penalty try will be worth eight points (no conversion needed), a try, six points and a conversion, penalty and drop goal all worth two points each. There are also changes to the breakdown which are designed to reduce injuries.