27th May, 2016

If you were going to pick a most improved team in the past 15 months, East Tamaki would be a top contender.The Otara-based club has made huge strides and is on the cusp of qualifying for the Top Eight.                                           Premier coach Dave Usu said when he came to the club for the start of 2015 he had a simple goal.  “I wanted to make a difference for players,” said Usu.  “Otara is a nest of talent and I hate to see those players go to other clubs. Young players come through the ranks here but they can’t see a future. So the plan was to target the talent from within the community.”

There were some immediate wins.  East Tamaki claimed the preseason Pollard Cup and went on to produce three Auckland representative players and win two awards at the Auckland Rugby Awards.“That’s a massive achievement for us. We hadn’t had a representative player for a long time.”  A big thing for Usu has been working on culture. Instead of referring to premier and reserves teams, the club refer to the ‘green’ and ‘white’ squads.                        “We want to keep everyone together and build that culture. At the beginning of the season we got everyone to put forward what they believe in, what is big for them, and we have to respect that for everyone to move forward.”    Usu said he has coached a lot of teams in his time and the talent that is in his 2016 squad is among the best.        "The biggest thing is belief. The players believe in themselves."  Belief would have come from the victory over University. The club's first over the heavy weight team in many years.

The pre match speech from Warriors legend, and former club member, Manu Vatuvei would have helped.  Usu said the support of former members like Vatuvei, and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck shows that the club means a lot to all that pass through the doors.  

The immediate challenge is a local battle against Papatoetoe. The winner likely to qualify for the top eight, but reliant on other results.  “Making the top eight is the focus, if that doesn’t happen there will be another target.”