Now, with a 45-30 win over the Blues, the Poua are trending in the right direction.
Speaking to Sky Sport after the win, co-captain Te Rauoriwa Gapper said the competition moving to a structure where teams are working full time in their hubs for the course of the campaign has been beneficial.
“It’s been a really tough couple of years since I’ve been here, but this year is just something different. You can feel the vibe, our boys are going good, we’ve got the support we need this year and we’re putting it out there now,” Gapper said.
“The centralising has been great for us. We’ve been able to work together and train together a lot more, which has been really good. There are still some really big things we need to work on but the trust we have in each other is there.”
The signing of Black Ferns fullback Renee Holmes has been a big lift for the side this season, with the 26-year-old deployed at first five-eighths and steering the ship superbly over the past couple of weeks while adding her accuracy from the kicking tee – slotting eight of nine attempts on Saturday.
Against the Blues, Wikitoria Viljoen was impressive on the right wing, scoring a hat-trick in the high-scoring affair. Viljoen started the scoring early, crossing for her first of the day in the fifth minute.
The Blues scored the next three tries – Katelyn Vahaakolo with two and Mererangi Paul with the other – to take a 15-13 lead, with the Poua adding a couple of penalties.
A second try to Viljoen and another penalty gave the Poua a 23-15 lead at the break, but they found themselves down again after tries through Jaymie Kolose and Liana Mikaele-Tu’u.
But the Poua dictated the rest of the half, playing in the right areas of the field and defending well when the Blues did get their hands on the ball.
A third to Viljoen, tries to Arene Landon-Lane and Iritana Hohaia, and another Holmes penalty led to the Poua running out to a 45-25 lead, with the Blues scoring a consolation try through Hollyrae Mete-Renata in the final minute of the contest.
The win leaves the Poua third on the table with two rounds remaining before the grand final, but they are now one point behind the Blues.
The Poua will face Matatū next weekend, with the competition’s South Island representative still unbeaten through four rounds and sitting comfortably at the top of the ladder.
Matatū go into that contest after a 41-24 win over Chiefs Manawa in Pukekohe, a game where they led big early on but had to thwart a spirited Chiefs’ comeback effort early in the second half.
It was a big day for the forwards with Pip Love, Kaipo Olsen-Baker and Fiaali’i Solomona all scoring first-half tries for Matatū, before the backs got involved through midfielders Grace Brooker and Amy du Plessis. Chiefs Manawa got on the scoreboard through loose forward Mia Anderson, but Matatū raced out to a 31-5 lead at the break.
Tries to Shyrah Tuliau-Tua’a, Ariana Bayler and Louise Blyde meant Chiefs Manawa closed the gap to seven points, but Matatū, who lost prop Santo Taumata to two yellow cards in the second half, soon pushed that back out through Nat Delamere and Olsen-Baker.