Defending champs travel with depth
As far as first-up assignments go, it does not get much tougher for Stratford-Eltham.
On the day the two clubs formally recognise their partnership with a new strip and the addition of Eltham to their team name, the central Taranaki side welcome defending champions Tukapa to open the season.
Making things even tougher has been the loss of several influential players the home side looked to last season while Tukapa head south with a powerful looking squad that has allowed coaches Tim Stuck and Laurence Corlett to place the likes of captain Mitchell Crosswell and Taranaki midfield back Isaia Tuifua on the bench.
Not that Stratford-Eltham coach Rawiri Mako was too concerned. He has been happy enough from what he has seen pre-season and was confident his side would be more than competitive if they managed to get some fundamental things right.
‘‘It’s the best we’ve got, so we’re into it,’’ he said. ‘‘We’re launching the new jerseys and we hope it will go some way to motivating the guys but I don’t think they will need too much motivation because they get to play the defending club champs first up and they are the bench mark.’’
While the combined club was still awaiting travel visas for several Fijian players to be finalised, Mako said they had the advantage at least of having the nucleus of last year’s squad come in and virtually pick up from where they left off last season as they pushed for a time for a top four spot.
What he thought they had to do first and foremost was defend a lot better than what they have in the past.
That had been a real concentration point in the off-season and there had been enough signs in the last month that the players were improving in what they had been asked to do.
‘‘Last year showed we could score tries but defence is our No 1 priority along with slotting a few more goals. We’ve changed things up and we’re asking the guys to defend differently and get to what is in front of them before they get to their side.
‘‘It’s the stuff that everyone does, and it’s pretty basic, but we think we can be a bit more intense with it.’’
Not surprisingly, Mako also felt the players had to hold on to the ball for longer periods to test and stretch their opposition, something Tukapa did well at the back end of last season.
Mako has no concerns around their set piece and was happy they had added a bit of size to their pack with the likes of Bradley Chubb who will pack down in the second row rather than prop.
‘‘They’ve just added a bit of size so we won’t be shifted out of the ruck so easily.’’
Things have been going well in the Tukapa camp, according to cocoach Laurence Corlett, who believed they would start better than they did in the opening week of the 2016 season when they were thumped by Clifton.
While they will be without veteran first five-eighth Jack Cameron for the opening week, Corlett was confident regular fullback Jayson Potroz would do the job well while he was also hopeful a number of new players would find their feet early.
Elsewhere, the remaining three games appear relatively tight, although Southern should be able to get an advantage over an Inglewood front eight that would be the most inexperienced the club has fielded in decades.
Clifton have a big family day planned at Tikorangi as they host Spotswood United. New Clifton coach Kerry Eynon will undoubtedly be keen to start his tenure on a bright note given they are playing at home.
Coastal and New Plymouth Old Boys usually play out some tough matches that generally stretch deep before a result is clear. That might again be the case at Rahotu.
The match will also be a good test for Coastal given they are made up of 100 percent local players, something coach Aaron Fisher was proud of.