Big weekend for Greytown rugby

Motivation will be no problem for Greytown when they host table-toppers Martinborough in a Wairarapa-Bush Tui Cup premier division rugby match at Greytown on Saturday.

Not only would victory see Greytown supplant Martinborough as competition frontrunners but it would come on a weekend where the 1992 Greytown squad, which won what was then labelled the Wairarapa-Bush senior A championship, are holding a reunion.

They are having a dinner tomorrow night, will attend the club games at Greytown on Saturday and then strut their own stuff when a past players line-up takes on the Millhillians Golden Oldies on the Sunday.

Coach of the successful 1992 side was Ritchie Robertson and, as fate would have it, he is back in that role again this year, taking over the reins when the job became vacant soon after the season commenced and club chairman Neil Morison (a player in 1992) asked whether he would fill in.

"I said I would help out for a few weeks and I'm still there ... I'm rapt with the progress the boys have made, we set game plans and they do their best to stick to them, you can't ask for a lot more than that."

Robertson actually sees parallels between the 1992 and 2012 sides, saying they both started their seasons slowly before stringing enough wins together to put them in play-off contention.

The 1992 team, in fact, had no Wairarapa-Bush players in their squad although the likes of the Guildford brothers, Darryn and the late Robert, Anthony Morris, Neil Foote and Joe Huriama all went on to play on the provincial scene.

Their title win came after a stirring battle between them and southern neighbours Featherston, who were spearheaded by the Berrys, including All Black Marty, Sargents and classy winger Michael Foster.

Robertson recalls Greytown formulating tactics aimed at nullifying the attacking brilliance of Marty Berry and they worked well enough to produce a 24-18 win.

Whether the 2012 Greytown side is capable of achieving the same success as that of 1992 remains to be seen with Robertson the first to concede they will start underdogs against a Martinborough team which beat them 21-5 in their Kapene Cup encounter.

"We know how tough it is going to be but that's what rugby is all about, good sides react well to pressure and that's what we have to do."

• Greytown Rugby Club lost one of their stalwarts with the death of John Cole on Tuesday. He captained the Greytown senior team over several years and also skippered Wairarapa-Bush in the mid-1970s.

Ritchie Robertson, who played alongside Cole, recalls him as a flanker who relished the more physical aspects of the game.

"He was the sort of guy who didn't know how to take a backward step, he played hard and he expected everybody else around him to play hard as well."

Mr Cole's funeral is in Greytown tomorrow morning.