Rugby
Greytown halfback Joseph Sio is the main beneficiary of a raft of injuries and unavailabilities which have depleted the Wairarapa-Bush backline for their Jeremy David Memorial Cup representative rugby match with Poverty Bay at Gisborne tomorrow.
Sio, whose 30m burst for a brilliant solo try 15 minutes into the first half was the individual highlight of Greytown's 47-15 hammering of Eketahuna in the Tui Cup premier division final last week, was not named in the original 23 but will start in the No 9 jersey with the two other halfbacks in the squad, Zeb Aporo (East Coast) and Inia Katia (Gladstone) being at first-five and wing respectively.
These late changes have been caused by Greytown first-five Glen Walters and Martinborough wing Nathan Hunt being sidelined by injury and midfielder Tapaga Isaac having work commitments but they should not greatly detract from the overall effort as Sio has been in fine form all season and Aporo and Katia have filled their intended roles numerous times in the past.
"Obviously it would have been nice to have everybody on deck but when you have the versatility that we have in our backline there's no excuse for not being able to cope," Wairarapa-Bush head coach Mark Rutene said yesterday.