These Bears cubs, not grizzlies

Will Johnston

A new era of Waitara Bears rugby league will be showcased on its home patch this weekend.

The Waitara club will host week three of Taranaki’s premier competition at Clifton Park on Saturday with the Bears playing Hawera Hawks at 2:30pm. In the earlier game, Coastal Cobras play Western Tigers at 1pm.

Bears manager Paul Tuuta said head coach Hayden Healey gave the team a new flavour this year.

“He’s given it a real good crack this year. We’ve got a younger, new era Waitara Bears team from past generations,” he said.

“He’s given them the opportunity to go out and showcase their talent on the stage for the premier competition.”

The Bears have only played one game in the competition so far and beat Coastal Cobras 36-28 before it had the bye last week.

Having last week off gave the club a chance to recruit even more players.

“We’ve been lucky to generate new numbers and momentum for the last few weeks.”

Ahead of the weekend, Tuuta signalled out Daniel Potaka, Zack Jennison and Tainui Moehu and expected the trio to perform well this weekend.

“Jennison is new to the club, he used to play rugby but plays really well.”

He said the earlier start to the season attracted not only league players but union ones, who added value to the team.

Tuuta said the festival day at Clifton Park would encourage spectators to turn up with two premier games and a junior match.

“It promotes the game in the community and gets people through the gates.

“I think it’s a great concept. It’s working well,” Tuuta said.

Waitara’s opponents, Hawera, lost to Bell Block in the opening round 10-50 but beat Coastal 40-22 at Ngamotu Domain on Saturday.

Bell Block will have the week off.