Teams looking to improve

MIDLANDS will head to Gore to take on the Eastern Barbarians in the second round of the Southland premier club competition tomorrow.

Midlands is the only club which has decided to come up from the division one competition and take part in this year’s premier competition. It is expected to be tough going but there were some signs of encouragement from the Wintonbased side.

The team lost 5326 to Blues last week in the competition opener and it had some good patches in the game. Midlands scored a couple of tries early in the second half and trailed just 2919 at that stage.

But the defensive gates opened as the pressure went on and Blues ran away with the game.

It is a common occurrence for sides which move up into another grade. The hard work and honest graft can only last for a certain period and as players get weary and tiredness creeps in the tackles start getting missed and points get conceded.

The Barbarians have managed to pick up some players from the Te Anau club which was intending to move up to the premier grade but decided against it as playing numbers dropped.

The Barbarians went down to Pirates Old Boys last week 3615 and will want to bounce back at home. They should go into the match with some confidence.

In the other games, Star will take on Pirates Old Boys. Star just went down to Woodlands 3024 last week and has some big bodies up front, looking to dominate.

In the other game, Marist gets its season under way when it hosts Woodlands.

Woodlands looms as the side to beat in the competition but only just managed to get home over Star last week.

Marist will want to start well in the year it celebrates its centenary.

The celebrations were supposed to take place last year but were cancelled because of the Covid19 pandemic.

Blues have the bye.