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It’s first versus second in Premier Pool B in the Counties Power Game of the Week, with Patumahoe Hotel hosting Bombay Gough Cat in the Premier Round 2 competition at 2:45pm on Saturday.

Bombay top Pool B and Patumahoe sit behind them in second. The last time these two sides met was last month on the hill, with Bombay winning 30-15.

Patumahoe Hotel defeated Papakura Ray White over the weekend, while Bombay Gough Cat had a bye. Coach Jeff Marr said his side is ready to go.

“I guess the bye came at a good time for a number of reasons, but it is a little bit frustrating that we had a couple of big wins then a bye and now we have some really tough games as we work towards the semi-finals. Hopefully we can put on a good performance against Patumahoe.”

Marr said his side will take a fresh approach into this weekend’s game and they won’t take too much from their win last time against Patumahoe.   

“We peel our performances right back to nothing. We are very wary of Patumahoe and there are things we were disappointed with in our win last time. Over the last three weeks we have been working really hard on our fitness and technical skills, which will hopefully see us be a bit better.”

Bombay Gough Cat have had a lot of players away on rep and Super Rugby duty this season, but Marr said his side should be pretty strong for this weekend.

Patumahoe Hotel coach John Penberthy said the Counties Power Game of the Week on Saturday will be a great occasion for the club.

“It’s a must win game for us and we need to be excited about the challenge. It’s Sponsors Day at the club so it will be a good crowd and hopefully the weather is conducive because both sides like playing around with the ball and we both play good attacking football.”

Patumahoe still have forwards’ Fotu Lokotui and John Tangi out with injury, but everyone else pulled up ok after the win over Papakura. Penberthy knows Bombay are an extremely clinical, well drilled team.

“We just need to focus on what we need to do. Our defence needs to be solid, we need good line speed and we must put them under pressure. But it comes down to our defence on Saturday and our willingness to go forward and dominate the game line. They won in the last 20 minutes last time, so we will be doing everything to put our best foot forward.”

Get to Patumahoe 1 at 2:45pm on Saturday to watch the Counties Power Game of the Week between Patumahoe Hotel and Bombay Gough Cat in the Premier competition.