Anything but a win is just not good enough

Wairarapa-Bush rugby coach Peter Russell won't settle for anything less than a win in his team's non-championship match with a Manawatu XV at Memorial Park, Masterton tomorrow.
Russell has not been overly concerned at earlier losses this season to Wellington and Hawke's Bay because of the long list of "unavailables" through injury but says the time has come for his players to stand up and be counted.
And with Manawatu fielding a second string combination owing to their A side playing Northland tonight there would be no excuse for defeat.
"We are at the stage where we need to start performing well as a team and this game is one we have to win," Russell said. "Any other result just won't be good enough."
The starting line-for tomorrow's game pretty much mirrors what would have been expected had it been an NPC third division game.
The only question mark in the backs would be the selection of Carterton utility player Tommy Harmon on the wing.
Most of his club rugby has been played in the midfield but Russell was more than happy with his form on the wing in the Hawke's Bay game and with Eketahuna's Jorji Tamani still battling a knee injury he gets another chance to push for a permanent position in the side.
"He's got a good turn of speed and he's aggressive??..he doesn't hold anything back," Russell said of Harmon. "He's got potential in the midfield but right now we see him more as a winger. He could be exciting there."
Harmon will be on the end of a backline which, apart from another relative newcomer in Gladstone fullback John Uys, reeks with experience.
James Bruce, Patrick Rimene, Nathan Couch, Simanu Simanu and Esava Teko have all made numerous appearances at NPC level in he past and, barring injury, will be part of the action at that level again in 2005.
Reserve backs Victor Thompson and Bart Viguurs still have some way to go though before they have their NPC bags packed.
Thompson, from Pioneer, has made a huge impression on the club scene with his snappy passing but could still have Eketahuna's Hamish McKenzie breathing down his neck for an NPC jersey.
McKenzie has not been available for Wairarapa-Bush to date this season but there is still a chance he could come on board for the NPC programme.The fact he has been a mainstay of the Eketahuna side which has been making a one-horse race of the senior first division club series has to be in McKenzie's favour should he have a change of heart.
Viguurs,a Dutch international, has done well since joining up with Greytown-Tuhirangi and there are more than a few pundits who see him taking over the first-five jersey for Wairarapa-Bush with Patrick Rimene shifting back to his old place of fullback. For the time being, however, Rimene is still the first choice pivot and to alter that situation Viguurs needs to make every post a winner when he comes off the reserve bench.
Russell has named five forward reserves for tomorrow's match, something which suggests he is still a little unsure of some positions there.
Of those in the starting line-up front rowers Logan Ili, Rob Foreman and Dylan Higgison and loose forwards Mike Robinson, Daimon Neal and Sylvanus Iro are virtual certainties for NPC selection.
That leaves the two locks, Tomasi Kedrabuka and Dan Filihiahekava, and they will in the same boat should they pass tomorrow's examination.
Fijian Kedarabuka had been in the region a matter of only 48 hours when he took the field for Carterton in a club game on Saturday and by all accounts he made a favourable impression, both with his lineout jumping and mobility.He is hopefully Wairarapa-Bush's answer to Stu Smith in 2005, Smith being their player of the year last season but now playing in the Nelson-Bays area. If Kedarabuka goes even close to filling his boots in the locking berth he'll be a huge asset, won't he?
Filihiahekava has been in and out of Wairarapa-Bush teams over the past couple of seasons but with the current shortage of quality locks he has a royal chance to become a regular this year. He will be aware though that with former national league basketballer Jason Russo in the reserves nothing can be taken for granted.
Joining Russo in the forward reserves for tomorrow's game are front rowers Brendan Walker and Joe Harwood and loosies Rob Dick and Sam Henderson.Each of them have been impressive performers at club level and it bodes well for Wairarapa-Bush that players of their quality cannot make the starting line-up, at least for this particular game.
Tactically, coach Russell is looking for Wairarapa-Bush to play a structured brand of rugby with the focus being on the forwards taking possession through three or four phases before setting the backs alight.
"We want to do the simple things well, that's pretty much what everything will be built around," he said.
The Wairarapa-Bush senior B will play the curtain-raiser tomorrow, probably against a Manawatu development squad or colts combination.