The Bay of Plenty Rugby Union has announced its official competition format for this year's Farmlands Baywide Premier Men's and Premier Men's Development competitions.

After consultation with Bay of Plenty Rugby Clubs, all have unanimously voted in favour of a shorter Club window, based on the success of the shortened 2020 Club season as a result of Covid.

"The Club season will now follow 11 weeks of round-robin, culminating in a top 4 semi-final and final," says BOPRU Community Rugby Manager Pat Rae.

"Last year, we almost saw an entire season played without any effect from Covid. This year's shortened format lessens the window into which a Covid outbreak could potentially impact the season.

"It's 13 weeks of rugby done and dusted."

In other Premier Men's related news, Eastern Bay club Opotiki Sports, who qualified to play this year in the Baywide Premier Men's competition, have made the difficult decision to withdraw from the Baywide competition. Instead, they will play in the Eastern Bay Senior Local competition due to logistical struggles, including travel.

The free slot has opened the door for Western Bay Club Judea to enter the Premier Men's competition after finishing fifth in last year's Baywide Premier 2 Men's competition. Judea Club President Mike Steel exclaims that the move is a historic moment for the Club.

“To the best of our knowledge, we have never been in Prems, however here’s a story to tell,” says Steel.

“We played Tauranga Sports in the 1998 Western Bay final, the season before Baywide started.

“Although we knocked over Te Puke Sports, Mount, Rangataua, and only lost to Tauranga Sports, we did not take part in Baywide that next season.

“We are not sure of the reason for this, we may have declined. The same as Opotiki have for the 2022 season.”

The Premier Development competition will also see slight changes to the rules. As of 2022, there's no longer the requirement for a Premier team to have a development side, which allows smaller Bay of Plenty Clubs to play in our top Men's competition. The nine Western Bay development teams will play their Western Bay development opponents. When they play a Central Bay team, the development side will play another Western Bay Senior local team.

The three Central Bay Development teams look likely to play in the Central Bay Senior local competition for 2022.

The 2022 Farmlands Baywide Premier Men’s Draw is now available on the BOPRU Website, all other draws will be released once team entries are confirmed.

Article added: Friday 04 February 2022