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More Counties Power Club Rugby kicks off this weekend, with the Massey Cup Under 21, Bright Cup Under 20, Under 85kg, Division 2 and Women’s competitions getting underway.

This week’s Counties Power Game of the Week is a repeat of last year’s Under 85kg final between Bombay Lincoln Farms and Patumahoe Pak ‘N’ Save. Patumahoe were last year’s champions, coming away with a narrow 13-11 victory in the final.

It’s been a pretty casual pre-season for Bombay, who host Patumahoe at Bombay 2 at 2:45pm on Saturday. Head coach Simon Adams can’t wait to get their 2016 campaign underway.

“It’s a great way to start the season against Patumahoe. We’re expecting a hard game, we’ve heard a lot about them and obviously know how they were last year. It will be good to see where we are at, at the start of the year.”

Bombay Lincoln Farms Under 85kg have lost a couple of their stand out players in Richie Farrell and Mac Peach, but Adams is hoping he’ll be able to convince them to come back later in the season, although he says it’s not looking too promising.

“We’ve lost those guys and a few of the old boys as well, so that’s a lot of experience but we have gained some new young ones as well so they are keen to get stuck in. It’s probably a fair trade, lose a few old boys but gain a few young ones. I’m not going to name the young boys just yet, not until they play on Saturday.”

Bombay are fit and healthy when it comes to injury. They haven’t had any pre-season games and Adams admits fitness probably isn’t as good as it should be, but he’s confident that will come after playing a few games.

Defending champions Patumahoe Pak ‘N’ Save have had a good pre-season, winning all three of their games. Head coach Brad Healy can’t wait to get the regular season underway after a pretty long build up.  

“What a great way to start the year, up against Bombay who we played in the final last year. It will be a good little hit out against them. I’ve been talking to a few of the guys in the Bombay team and they are just as excited as us, the boys are keen to get up on the hill.”

Patumahoe Pak ‘N’ Save Under 85kg have retained about 80% of their team from last season. Healy says they have replaced their losses and have some exciting new talent and they have a new captain in number eight Matt Fox. 

“Some of our old boys are coming back from last year, but we have a group of about half a dozen new guys and they are looking forward to it. We’ve bolstered our forward pack and have some exciting new loosies and locks. Reid Fulton is one of our new locks and Willy Ridley is one of our loose forwards. Kieran Gussey is a new front rower for us. They have certainly strengthened our pack. We’ve also got a good first-five in Josh Snell who is back from last year.”

Get down to Bombay 2 at 2:45pm on Saturday to watch this week’s Counties Power Game of the Week between Bombay Lincoln Farms and Patumahoe Pak ‘N’ Save Under 85kg.