My Account
Making one-on-one tackles will be a focus for Wellsford in the coming weeks.
The Waipu Premiers got their rugby season off to a winning start, beating the Wellsford Premiers 27-10 in the Bayleys Premiership at Wellsford on March 18.
Three early tries put the visitors on the front foot, before Wellsford managed to dig in and get more possession in a scoreless second half.
Waipu head coach Graham Dewes says getting the win in Wellsford for the first time in a number of years was a big highlight.
“We had a good start to the game and came out of the blocks firing,” he says. “We lacked concentration in the second half and Wellsford got back into the game, but our defence was still impressive.”
This is Graham’s first year as head coach and he is trying to focus the squad around hard work.
“We don’t have a team full of stars, so I’m trying to instil a hard working attitude in every player.”
Last year, Waipu finished third in the competition and they have their sights set on winning the title this year.
“We are taking the tournament week by week, because we can’t reach the end goal if we don’t tick the boxes along the way,” he says.
The Waipu team is a young one, with a 19-year-old captain, a fact which Graham says brings plenty of enthusiasm to trainings.
Wellsford head coach Brad Te Haara says a short pre-season due to fixture issues meant his side was a bit rusty coming into the game.
“We picked it up in the second half, though, so I’m hoping next week we will hit the ground running,” he says.
He did note two areas for the team to work on – their kick off and tackling.
This is also Brad’s first year as head coach and he has started the team plan from scratch, bringing in new strategies.
“We’ve had the same game plan for the past three years, so we needed to change it to keep the players engaged.”
Brad says
Wellsford needs to be in the top four at the end of round one to be in with a chance to win the competition and, based on previous seasons, he believes this is “very achievable”.
