Bush refs in short supply

Injuries and unavailabilities have led to a shortage of referees for Wairarapa-Bush club rugby tomorrow.
A number of refs will cover two games while home team Marist will have to provide their own official for their senior reserves encounter with Gladstone as will Rathkeale College and Wairarapa College in the junior grades.
Premier division sides will be playing the final round of the Kapene Cup competition with East Coast already guaranteed the spoils. However, there will still be some interest in results as placings on the Cup points table will dictate the composition of the two pools for the main championship which kicks off on the Saturday of Queen's Birthday weekend.
Seeds one, three, five, seven and nine will be in one pool and seeds two, four, six, eight and 10 in the other.
Points: East Coast 36, Pioneer 30, Gladstone 27, Carterton and Martinborough 24, Eketahuna 22, Marist 20, Masterton Red Star 10, Greytown 7 and Featherston 0.
Gladstone will be warmly favoured to beat Red Star at Memorial Park No1 tomorrow and, if they do, Pioneer will need to head off Eketahuna at Eketahuna to finish as runners-up. Eketahuna are sure to emphasise forward domination and Pioneer just as certain to place the emphasis on having their backs cut loose.On that basis the result will very much depend on how Pioneer fare in the possession stakes.
Marist and Featherston will lock horns on Memorial Park No2 and while the smart money would be on a Marist victory, Featherston will fancy their chances of at least breaking even in the forward exchanges. Two in-form loosies in James Goodger (Marist) and Tommy Sargent (Featherston) will square off and the Wairarapa-Bush selectors will be keeping a close eye on them.
East Coast takes on Greytown at Greytown and with the Kapene Cup and their No1 seeding in the bag, the approach of East Coast coach Mark Donaldson could decide what transpires here.
Will he elect to spell some of his key players or will he field a near full-strength line-up? If he does the latter East Coast will win, if he doesn't anything could happen.
Eketahuna women will continue their Wellington premier division programme when they host Old Boys University at Eketahuna.
A home victory seems assured but Eketahuna coach Sid Tatana will be looking for an improvement in their back play. That may seem surprising considering the bucketful of tries the backs have scored already this season but Tatana is adamant they have more to offer.
"We have a lot of flair and speed there but there are still times when we have problems with our alignment and structure."
The full draw for club games tomorrow Premier division: Masterton Red Star v Gladstone, Memorial Park No1 at 2.30pm (S. Andrew; S O'Gorman and K. Lochhead); Marist v Featherston, Memorial Park No2 at 2.30pm (C. Jefferies; G. Hall and home team); Eketahuna v Pioneer, Eketahuna at 2.30pm (G. Reisima; D. Goodin and A. Payne); Greytown v East Coast, Greytown atv 2.30pm (G. Moorcock; T. Roseingrave and home team); Martinborough and Carterton byes.
Senior reserves: Masterton Red Star v Tuhirangi, Memorial Park No.1 at 1pm (S.O'Gorman); Marist v Gladstone, Memorial Park No.2 at 1pm (home team); Eketahuna v Carterton, Eketahuna at 1pm (D.Goodin); Martinborough v Pioneer, Martinborough at 1pm (T.Roseingrave); East Coast a bye.
Women's premier: Eketahuna v OBU, Eketahuna at 11.30am (A.Payne).
MRFU colts: Eketahuna v COB, Eketahuna at 1pm (A.Payne); WBG BaaBaas v Kia Toa, Colombo road at 1pm (G.Hall).
Secondary schools. Premier:Kuranui first XV v Kapiti first XV, Greytown at 1pm (P.Weeks). Under-15: Wairarapa College v Waiopehu, Wairarapa College at 9.50am (A.Mortenson). Open grade: Rathkeale second XV v Makoura first XV, Rathkeale at 11.15am (C.Jefferies); Wairarapa Coillege third XV v Kuranui second XV, Wairarapa College at 11.15am (E.Wallace); Chanel first XV v Wairarapa College second XV, Chanel at 11.15am (K.Lochhead). Junior: Rathkeale v Wairarapa College Gold, Rathkeale at 10am (home team); Wairarapa College Blue v Makoura, Wairarapa College at 10am (home team).