Bush eyes on Heartland

Wairarapa-Bush rugby coach Mark Rutene says the door is still open for players to force their way into the 2011 Heartland championship squad, and Queen's Birthday weekend provides the ideal opportunity to take that final step.
With all five of the premier division matches being played at Memorial Park tomorrow as a feature of the WBRFU's 125th anniversary celebrations and then a Wairarapa XV playing a Bush XV on Monday, Rutene and his assistant coach, Steve Thompson, will have pen and paper ready.
Their intentions are to name a squad of between 20 and 22 players late next week and while Rutene concedes they already have a good idea of the nucleus of that squad, emphasises there is still room for the many "fringe" players to come right into the reckoning.
"Yes, there are a lot of players who are very close to having a tick beside their names, this weekend could be the decider for them,"Rutene said.
Three of tomorrow's premier division games will kick off at 12.30pm with Gladstone up against Eketahuna on the No1 ground, Carterton taking on Masterton Red Star on the No2 ground and Greytown squaring off against Featherston on the No3 ground. It is the start of the main championship with all teams back to square one on the points table.
Gladstone and Eketahuna are destined to have a battle royale in a game which should see very contrasting tactics.
Gladstone have recently won themselves a well deserved reputation for the power of their forward play but while they are still very competent up front, it has been the attacking flair of their backs, most notably Fijians Inia Katia, Michael Vuicikau and Joseva Naivalu, which has been their main talking point in 2011.
Eketahuna, on the other hand, have generally been relying on their pack to call the tune with the ruggedness and experience of Brendan Walker, Craig Lawrence, Daniel Griffin, Juss Tua-Davidson, Luke Mahoney and Duncan Law to call on.
Their challenge will be to deny Gladstone the quality ball needed to utilise the attacking skills of their backs and how they respond will very probably decide the outcome of this game.
Carterton and Masterton Red Star actually met in the premier division final in 2010 with Carterton taking the honours over a Masterton Red Star side which had won the title the previous year.
Unfortunately for both sides their playing resources no longer have the depth of talent they did then and right now it would be a surprise if either of them were grand finalists this year.
It would be surprising, too, if Carterton, who could be without the injured Jono Hurley, didn't have the edge at both back and forward in tomorrow's encounter although Masterton Red Star, who now have former Wairarapa-Bush captain John Cummings on their coaching staff, will have taken confidence from a strong second half effort against Gladstone last weekend. A repeat of that for the full 80 minutes and anything could happen.
Greytown and Featherston came out of the Kapene Cup as the bottom two seeds but their clash provides the opportunity for one of them to kick off their main championship campaign with a welcome four - or possible five -competition points.
Greytown deserve to start favourites as they have appeared better equipped from an all-round perspective but they wouldn't want to under-rate a Featherston side who will look to dominate the forward exchanges. The 2.15pm matches see East Coast playing Pioneer on the No1 ground and Marist taking on Martinborough on the No2 ground and both have the potential to be thrillers.
As the clear-cut winners of the Kapene Cup for leading at the end of one complete round of premier division matches, East Coast will obviously start favourites.
The last time Marist and Martinborough locked horns it was a cracker of a game and tomorrow's encounter should be no different.