Three sides eye top spot but injury evens the field

The lead in the Southern Districts Premier rugby competition is up for grabs tomorrow, with three clubs within range to knock Wellsford off the top spot should they falter at Mid Northern.
Wellsford coach Haydn Ferris said both teams would be in the same boat at Hukeranui with injuries already robbing the match of many of its frontline players.
"We're still struggling with injury and unavailability but that's something that every team has to deal with ... it's a long season and, in club rugby these days, you struggle with depth," he said.
"It's not a bad thing to get used to being without your frontline players because, at this stage, we still have no idea whether Northland will allow the rep players to play at the business end of the season, so you've got to make sure you've got good cover."
With Wellsford's backs well short of their flamboyant best last weekend at Mid Western, Ferris was expecting the forwards to carry the match to Mid Northern.
"Our pack is going pretty well and we will have to continue with that, although having said that, our lineouts were our Achilles heel on Saturday and we'll have to improve on that so we can build more phases this week," he said.
Ferris said Rene Ranger, who was stood down for the Blues by the NZRU after an incident in Matakana last weekend, wasn't in their plans for the game but that could change at any time.
"If he's available to play then we'd play him but if the ban extends to all rugby then naturally he won't be playing," he said.
Ferris was planning to clarify Ranger's availability before the match and said the club would be as supportive of their player as possible.
Mid Northern coach Darrel Pita said his team were still putting together a team for the game with up to seven first-choice players expected to be out tomorrow.
"We haven't really thought about what to expect this weekend, we've been trying to patch ourselves up and stiffen up our forward pack and get a good platform for our backs to use."
Although the winner of the top-of-the-table clash is likely to end up in top spot, it is not a given, with Mid Western and the Western Sharks also within striking distance.
Mid Western have an outside chance of taking the lead if, as expected, they are too strong for Kamo. Kamo's forwards are a threat to Mid Western but their backs' form is still inconsistent and they can expect to struggle against one of the class backlines of the competition.
The Western Sharks' match against Hora Hora is a more problematic proposition for their coaching staff. Hora Hora are sixth on the table but are showing signs of pulling their campaign back on track and will pose a real threat to the Sharks at RD1 Park in Dargaville.
The game should be one of the best match-ups of the round with the Sharks keen to prove to their home supporters that they are real contenders this year.
Hikurangi will be keen to get back on track after a loss to Hora Hora with a visit from bottom-placed Waipu tomorrow. Waipu may be improving after getting to within two points of Marist last weekend but Hikurangi should be too strong in a home game.
Marist have a good chance to move up the table with their match against struggling Old Boys, but the visitors to Kensington Park will be targeting more than just bonus points tomorrow and will back themselves to go one step further than Waipu last week and cause an upset against their Whangarei rivals.