Barbarians given significant boost by Motueakians

This year's Waimea Combined Barbarians are eager to show that they aren't just a team of Waimea College players and some stragglers.

With seven Motueka High Schoolers and two making the trip over from Golden Bay twice a week for training and again for games, the Waimea Combined Barbarians have one of the most diverse squads in recent history.

And to show their desire to encompass their player's representation, the team's season debut will be at Motueka Sports Park on 25 May, when they take on Roncalli.

"It's, in part, a thank you to those boys for travelling week in and week out," says coach Shayne Huhu.

But first, the team has an away date with St Thomas of Canterbury this weekend to kick off their season after a tough schedule of preseason games.

The team is battle-hardened, having been given confidence despite losing over the weekend in a preseason match against Timaru Boys High School in Hamner.

With TBHS playing in the premiership this season and the Barbarians a grade down in the championship, the 29-19 loss reflects a team eager to be at the top of its table at the business end.

Shayne says the team's focus during preparations this season has been refining its processes and gelling as a squad.

"You don't have that community at school [other teams have]."

He says the preseason's tough schedule has made their performances a bit of a hit-and-miss.

They look to be championship contenders when they play as a team, but he says it could have been better.

"It's hard to explain. . . When we missed a tackle or something went strong, we drop our heads."

With almost 50 boys turning up to preseason training, which started in December, the squad has been refined to 28 young men ahead of this season.

Shayne says it was a good but tough place to be a coach. There was a wealth of players to choose from, but a lack of feeder teams meant he had to make some hard decisions about who would make the final squad.

Now in his fourth year with the team, he says it would be a storybook ending for a lot of his players to win a championship this season.

"A majority of our players are year 13 and there's four boys who it's their third year with the side. I'd love to finish on a high for them."

Two of those more experienced players will captain the team, with Harry Horncastle set to lead and James Strang set to be his vice-captain.