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The Otamatea Hawks Rugby Club premier side is chasing the Joe Morgan Memorial title following a local derby victory over Wellsford on March 17.
The Hawks dominated, coming away with an 18-10 victory at Centennial Park, despite a defeat to Kerikeri the previous weekend.
Otamatea Hawks premier head coach Mike Peeni says the squad hasn’t reached its full potential, but is set on winning the competition.
“We still only have about 80 per cent of our full team at this stage, but we put in a good performance against Wellsford, which is a good sign moving forward,” Peeni says.
Wellsford head coach Peter Firth says his team failed to adapt when the game wasn’t going their way.
“We need to have a Plan B because Otamatea put us under pressure and we didn’t play our best rugby,” Firth says.
Fitness was the main focus in training for Otamatea for eight weeks of pre-season.
“In the past, we’ve wished the team was fitter half-way through the season. I didn’t want to have that problem again, which is why we’ve done a lot of cardio work,” Peeni says.
“We have also been working really hard on defence and tactics and that showed in the match against Wellsford.”
He says two players in the team to look out for this year are the new half-back from Tasman, Aisea Halo, and local boy Cullen Curtis, who plays on the wing.
“We definitely have the players to beat sides like Kerikeri in this competition as it progresses, but we will make sure we just take each game one at a time.”
