Combined club Eltham-Kaponga hits hard times

Eltham-Kaponga has withdrawn from the Taranaki senior development rugby competition because of a lack of players.

The combined club, which has fielded a side in the development grade since its inception in 1998, has been struggling in recent seasons for players to fill its reserve grade side.

The club's problems have been compounded in the past fortnight, with former rugby league international Gavin Hill withdrawing from the senior A coaching position. His departure has left former Taranaki assistant Rawiri Mako to fill the role as interim coach as he puts a squad together for the senior competition, which kicks off next week. Eltham-Kaponga is due to play Southern in Hawera in the first round and will play the same side in a pre-season match tomorrow.

Mako said there had been a "gradual decline" in numbers within the club after the retirement of several long-serving players such as former Taranaki halfback Craig Fevre, and the development side had not been able to replace players who had stepped up to senior level.

"It's a sign of the times and I think, in time, it will infiltrate into all club teams. If you take our area, and I'm not poo-pooing the likes of Riverlands or Fonterra, but a lot of the guys have shift work, which is four days on, four off for them.

"It makes it tough because you're asking them to take half a day off on a Saturday to play. There's not too many people that will do that."

Taranaki Rugby Football Union operations manager Derek Dingle said it was disappointing that Eltham-Kaponga had to withdraw its development side, meaning a bye would be necessary in the first round.

"It's a pain in the neck, to be honest with you, because all these clubs gave us confirmation that they would have teams, so that's why we put out a confirmed draw."

Dingle said clubs needed to be more proactive in the off-season to avoid having to scurry around a couple of weeks before the season started.

"You can't go looking for 25 guys in February to start off at the end of March. The groundwork should have been done last year."

Eltham-Kaponga's withdrawal in the development grade follows last year's decision by Border not to field a B side.

Dingle said it was not only the development grade that had teams pulling out – Bell Block had withdrawn its side from the under-20 grade.

- © Fairfax NZ News