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MAFIA TEES
Just $20 a shirt, a steal!
Not often you steal from the Mafia and live to tell the tale...
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Written by Jamie Troughton
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Saturday, 22 July 2006 |
A POLITE request of Rotorua locals: can you chuck a few smelling salts into the Whakarewarewa geysers next week?
And a short, sharp geothermal rocket up the rear might not go astray, when the Bay of Plenty rugby team come slinking into town hoping to regain some steam.
After last night's humbling 18-13 loss to Hawke's Bay at Mount Maunganui, their two-day camp in Rotorua next week best be short on comfort and large on hard work.
Feed the forwards up on raw meat and the backs on volcanic ash, so at least it won't just be opposition backlines going straight through.
Quite simply, they're running out of time.
Just two weeks remain until the Steamers open their Air New Zealand Cup campaign against Wellington, and there's a creeping malaise that needs exorcising sharpish.
Last night's performance was the second loss to competition newbies in a row, after the 25-20 loss to Counties-Manukau a week earlier. And although both matches didn't have first-class status, the results were hardly designed to filter confidence into the side.
``It's good to have these hit-
outs,'' new Steamers skipper Ben Castle countered. ``If you walked into that shed now, everyone's heads are down and they're pretty disappointed in themselves but we've got to look at it really positively. The positive thing is we can get back into it on Monday and rip into the week. We know we've got a lot of work to do.''
The first thing they'll look at is to stop their warm-ups when the referee's whistle sounds and not let them meander on for 40-odd minutes.
Hawke's Bay spent the entire first spell blowing them out of rucks, attacking down the left side and etching out a 7-3 lead they never relinquished.
``We only played that second half really,'' Castle admitted. ``We gave them a half to get into it. We started slow and poorly, well under the level we wanted to, and you just can't afford to give teams 40 minutes.''
Under the shadow of a dreadful lineout and shambolic rucking, the only bright spots came in the second half, when centre Cory Aporo and prop Simms Davison crossed for well-constructed tries. Aporo nearly scored again three minutes from the end to snatch the win, after a brilliant, surging run as he somehow kept his feet, but perhaps there was justice for Hawke's Bay that he was held up over the line.
Mike Delany came on at fullback and added some interest, while Colin Bourke's arrival, replacing the steady Solomon King at No8, sparked the Steamers' best period of play.
It was all in vain though.
It's obvious that both Counties and Hawke's Bay have much to prove this year, desperate to show they belong in the new elite competition. Their hunger has made up for deficiencies in skill and talent, though the Magpies did unveil a future star in schoolboy fullback Israel Dagg.
What the Steamers have is a solid core of experienced and highly capable forwards, who just need to remember that their dominance won't come as of right.
Castle was confident they could turn things around.
``It's about fine-tuning our game-plan. We're two weeks out from the biggest game of the year essentially (the season-opener against Wellington), and we've just got to get that go-forward ball that we're used to. ``We just haven't had that front-foot ball that has been Bay rugby.''
Hawke's Bay 18 (Nui Bartlett, Nathan Mauger tries; Matt Berquist pen con, Aayden Clarke pen) Bay of Plenty 13 (Cory Aporo, Simms Davison tries; Murray Williams pen). HT: 7-3.
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Steamers 2011 |
| : ITM Cup |
| Position: 4 |
| 17 July: Counties, W 20-13 |
| 23 July: Harbour, W 38-17 |
| 26 July: Waikato, W 36-8 |
| 31 July: Wellington, W 32-0 |
| 4 Aug: Northland L 23-30 |
| 9 Aug: Taranaki L 33-39 |
| 13 Aug: Hawke's Bay L 13-32 |
| 20 Aug: Auckland L 16-25 |
| 23 Aug: Canterbury W 35-31 |
| 28 Aug: Southland W 29-17 |
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News and Opinion 
