| |
Played |
Points |
| Canterbury |
10 |
33 |
| Waikato |
10 |
33 |
| Bay of Plenty |
10 |
31 |
| Taranaki |
10 |
31 |
| Auckland |
10 |
26 |
| Wellington |
10 |
25 |
| Southland |
10 |
20 |
Mooloo’s Go into Battle for Ryan Wheeler Memorial Trophy
13th August 2010 10:00AM
Waikato coach Chris Gibbes announced his side for the third game of the ITM Cup season today acknowledging that last week’s performance was a hard battle and the team’s character and attitude, won them the game last Saturday afternoon against Auckland. “The boys went into the game knowing it was going to be a tough battle last week and they gave their guts right to the end. Their fighting attitudes lead to the final points going on the board”. The tight forward pack has a new edition this week with hooker Vern Kamo moving from the reserves into the starting jersey, supported in the front row by Captain Nathan White and talented young prop Toby Smith. In the loose forward trio, Liam Messam has been released from his All Black duties for the next two weeks, alongside Jack Lam and Alex Bradley who gets his first start for the Mooloo’s this season. The Waikato backline is the same as last week with vice captain Brendon Leonard starting at halfback, with Trent Renata in the number 10 jersey. Christian Lealiifano remains at second five-eight with Sosene Anesi at fullback supported by elusive Dwayne Sweeney and Henry Speight out on the wings. “The Ryan Wheeler Memorial Trophy is an important motivator for both sides. Colin Cooper was his coach at Taranaki and a few of us here at Waikato, played with him. The trophy means a lot to us and we are out to win it back”, said Gibbes. Waikato takes on Taranaki in week three of the ITM Cup at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton on Sunday 15 August. Kick off is 4.35pm. The Waikato team is - Toby Smith
- Vern Kamo
- Nathan White (captain)
- Toby Lynn
- Romana Graham
- Liam Messam
- Jack Lam
- Alex Bradley
- Brendon Leonard (vice captain)
- Trent Renata
- Dwayne Sweeney
- Christian Lealiifano
- Save Tokula
- Henry Speight
- Sosene Anesi
Reserves: - Aled de Malmanche / Andre Ellison
- Hikairo Forbes
- Dominiko Waqaniburotu
- Matt Vant Leven
- Tawera Kerr-Barlow
- Tim Mikkelson
- Sam Christie
